Redrafting the 1994 NHL Entry Draft 

Christ, didn’t realize Tim Thomas was the 94 draft class. Makes his 2011 playoff run all the more impressive.

Really goes to show how good the Devils drafting was in the 90's. 3 players in this re-draft were drafted by the Devils. Elias, Souray and Sullivan.

Smyth at 3 is way too high. Guy never had more than 70 points. Hejduk did 4 times. Thomas is almost a HOF player.

Man, I love all these throwbacks. Very familiar with these names from early 2000s EA NHL games.

My buddy loved to say "SAVE OLEG TEVERDOSKY" when he made a save when we played street hockey, it was both weird and funny.

Got to be 1. Alfredsson, 2.Elias, 3.Milan Hejduk, then maybe 4.Tim Thomas though I like 5.Tomas Vokoun better. 6.Ryan Smith, 7.Chris drury, Then 8.Ed Jovanovski, Then I might take 9.Nabokov, ooo and10. Jeff O'neil and 11.Steve Sullivan. Ohlund 12 Turco was better than theodore. Souray had a huge shot but he was like Nuke laluish. he didn't know where it was going. He was a heck of a fighter and tough as nails. Tverdovsky was a good puck mover too. Love to see tverdovsky in Montreal. Way Better than Brad Brown with 30 points in 330 games. Modin had a heck of a shot. Rhett Warriner was a nice body checker, good career. Wasnt Hedberg a better goalie than Cloutier?

god I miss Nabby, having him in net for so long was awesome. used to love watching him flash the leather as his glove did that snatching motion upwards. they couldve held onto him for a few more seasons given how good he still was in NY.

This was a really deep draft with a lot of steals

I’d switch Thomas and Nabokov. Nabokov had more longevity but Thomas was a top 3 goalie for half a decade. He should have gotten a chance earlier in his careeer. I’d also have Turco a smidge higher and above Theodore

You should have mentioned who was actually drafted at those picks in 94, would interesting to know

Steve Sullivan has my favourite fan interaction moment of all time. The fan making fun of him for getting high sticked only for the fan to get a stick in the face later in the game is priceless

It's really ironic that you said that the Oilers wouldn't have needed Curtis Joseph or other goalies if they had Tim Thomas... because they did. Signed in June of 1998 by the Oilers. Signed in Aug 2002 by the Bruins.

You talk about a lot of these guys tailing off and having relatively weak ends to their careers. Wonder how much that has to do with the cancellef season and the new emphasis on youth and speed coming out of it.

Fun fact: the last active player from this draft class besides Elias was the enforcer Eric Boulton

Honorable mention: Mathieu Dandenault Drafted as a right wing and learned to play defence. Worked well as a bottom four pairing for several years, won two cups. Went on to to finish his career in Montreal.

The outstanding memory of Ed Jovanovski is his Big Hit on the Big E. Lindros had entered into the league and immediately steam rolled anybody in his way, he was skilled with a nasty streak. Everyone in the League was scared to death of #88 until Jovanovski hit him hard cleanly into the end board. Eric Lindros had gone his whole hockey without anyone challenging his physicality, until Big Ed. The hockey world, including Eric Lindros, were completely caught off guard. I equate it with when a brave soul finally calls the Classroom Bully's bluff and give them the business. Lindros had become so accustomed to not fearing getting hit, he developed from an early age the bad habit of skating with his head down when he handled the puck. With his bully status removed, and with his bad habit, it was only a matter of time until a big hitter (Scott Stevens) would end Lindros career way too early

Bob MacKenzie once said on a podcast that at 16-years old, Jeff O'Neill was the best player in the world in his age group.

Rest in Power Rick Jeanneret 💙 💛

Jeff Friesen, Oleg Tverdovsky and Patrik Elias… 2003 Stanley Cup Champs with NJ… HM to Sullivan and Souray, drafted by NJ lol Salvador also gets love from NJ lol

I have so many good memories of watching Radek Bonk absolutely kill it for the Las Vegas Thunder of the IHL the year before this draft. Thanks Shannon.

If the Canucks pick and keep Turco, I don’t know that they end up a goalie graveyard. Then again, they might have rushed him and screwed up his development.

Tim Thomas was great at Finnish league before his breakthrough at the NHL.

ryan smyth was a workhorse for the oilers still remember that 06 run I was so upset when the oilers lost.

All these great goalies and the Kings take Jaime Storr at 7. Including Dan Cloutier on this list hurts even more because by the time he joined the Kings, he was having trouble stopping a beach ball.

RIP Rick Jeanneret.. The man who was the voice of hockey for basically my whole life and the whole life of my father who got me into hockey.

Seeing Hejduk going 5th is so deserved.

Wow, goalies galore! I'll take Turco over Jose though

Absolutely loved the Ohlund-Iginla battles. Classics damn near every game. Fascinating pick for Vancouver here. Quite the introduction to the playoffs for Roberto Luongo and of Playoff Luongo to Canucks fans!

If Richard Zednik gets drafted by Boston at least Kyle McLaren won’t derail his career with that ugly clothesline elbow hit to the head. That was his best year for the Habs, he was never the same after that incident.

Hey Shannon, thanks for doing the redrafts! Love your take - and it's only one man's take. Albeit a very respected(and sometimes disrespected) take based on what you do for the hockey community in general!

I keep forgetting Jovocop was a 1st overall pick. So the Canucks did have a 1st Overall pick play for them for years...

I was at this draft in Hartford, walked right by Chris Pronger, I believe Whalers picked Jeff O'Neil

I'm definitely a fan of JovoCop, I wore his jersey to the meetup I attended because when I grew up and he was on, he was an amazing defenseman. Dad giving me a choice of jerseys from the West Coast Express era - it was an easy choice to make. I didn't like Naslund's dour personality and thought Bertuzzi would only have a few solid years as a power forward due to punishment on his body (which ended up being semi-accurate as his career as a top tier player was short, though due to another reason) so those two had less appeal to me than many Canuck fans.

If we're talking goalie drafts, whaddabout 2005. Quick, Price, Rask and Bishop. 4 quality starters all with 400+ games.

I remember this Entry Draft taking place in the middle of the week in Hartford (cue Brass Bonanza) because the Canon Greater Hartford Open PGA Tour stop conflicted and there was concern over lack of hotel rooms. The other big moment in the draft was the deal with Toronto and Quebec involving Wendel Clark and Mats Sundin (ironically two former #1 picks in past Entry Drafts) Seeing Richard Zednik on this list reminded me of the gruesome injury in 2008 as a Panther when teammate Olli Jokinen sliced his neck open in Buffalo. Harry Neale had said he had never seen so much blood on the ice and Rick Jeanneret (RIP RJ) said 'I'm afraid I have' in reference to the Clint Malarchuk incident back in 1989.

Wouldn't do 2 goalies for Edmonton. Probably would take Drury over Thomas since you drafted Nabokov with the 4th pick.

Wow. The goalies. Makes it tough to rank other players around it, but I would move Vokoun and Turco higher. I would bump Thomas down. Like, I would swap positions of Vokoun and Thomas and put Turco above Drury. Strong goalies are quite valuable to a team. I think if Vokoun played on better teams he would be extremely well valued. And yes, Bonk ahead of Souray for sure. Sullivan probably drops a couple of spots. Mainly in the list I would want to secure a career #1 goalie earlier. Theodore was still a career #1. I'd have 4 career goalies in the top 12 and it would be tough to justify not to have them there. Maybe even 4 goalies in the top 10 as crazy as that sounds.

Great 1, 2, 3 picks in your re-draft. I love looking at these drafts in hindsight. It just shows how difficult it is drafting in the NHL.

Wow Turco was great. Imo maybe the best goalie in this draft

Dan Cloutier was a tough pill to swallow. I still remember that game as an early fan growing up. THG is right, he could be stellar, but horrible under pressure - unfortunately. That playoff series was one of the earliest moments of watching hockey that I remember clearly, which cemented the pain that I will perpetually endure as a Canucks fan. I honestly see Buffalo winning a cup before Vancouver, and I would cheer them on 100%

Nabokov going from 219 to 4. Sharks found late pick talents. Just crap at picking 1-2nd rounders.

Saw Jason Bonsignore play in high school before he went off to the OHL. Even as a 15-year-old, he was a man amongst boys. Shame he was such a bust.

Sigh, another year the Leafs pretty much blew it. Trading up to get Brett Lindros, then trading back and taking Eric Fichaud when LIndros was taken by NYI; scouting director had died a month or so before. Overall a weak draft.

Interesting redraft. I'd change a few things, I'd put Tverdovsky at the very end of the round. Especially since basically everyone picked after him had a better career. But that's just me

I remember Sergei Berezin scoring the 10,000th goal in Montreal Canadiens history.

As a Sens fan, I really disliked Bonk. He was so bloody lazy on the back check. So talented but so lazy. Maybe too much vodka with Yashin(another famous backchecker)? So glad Alfie went to us when he did. Guy is a class act with a ton of talent.

would love to see a redo of the 1999 draft class, that would be a lot of fun. Some late round steals

Lord, seeing 2 drafted Nordiques/Avalanche move up like that in the draft makes me nostalgic for when Colorado could draft well.

I have zero recollection of any of these names. I was a huge hockey fan until 1995, then went to college and started my career before getting back into it around 2012. 17 years....I missed an entire generation's careers.

Great to see Nabby at 4 as he was my favourite player growing up!

Bonk was such a dud for Ottawa in the playoffs. Leafs always shut him down. 27 points in 73 games. Not good.

smyth was never captain until his last game Ference gave him the C for that night but other than that never wore the C for edmonton

Love the video, I just wish you would tell us what pick number the players were drafted originally and by what team.

long time aves fan here, hejduk was one heck of a great player, his points he put up the in 01 cup was awesome, he stepped up big time when forsberg went out in the playoffs with injury

3:45 Not to mention the late, great Warren Strelow doing amazing work developing them.

I feel like turco is too low. He had a .910 or higher save percentage and I didn’t even know some of the people listed above him.

Devils don't win 3 Cups, had it not been 4 Elias.... he's definitely going to the Hall

Could you talk about the death of the best play caller in hockey history Rick Jeanneret? RIP

No Johan Hedberg? I'd have him in over Cloutier tbh.

I like when you have the actual draft picks on the board as well before writing your redraft picks, because I have no idea who was drafted where in 1994

I don’t think Ryan Smith was ever captain of the oilers…..

Thought this wouldn't been the other draft that almost happened in 1994

I'd go 1. Alfie, 2. Nabokov, 3. Elias, 4. Thomas, 5. Smyth, 6. Hejduk, 7. Vokoun, 8. Theodore, 9. Jovanovski, 10. Turco. That was some 9th round (Nabokov, Thomas, Vokoun, and Steve sullivan

Have you redrafted 2015 draft yet. So many good players at a similar level.

ahhh yes, ducks defenseman legend!....Sheldon Souray!

We'll take Tevy back because without him we don't get Selanne

Wow huge Tim Thomas fan but never knew he was drafted. Thought he was signed as a free agent after college

Why don't you start with the lowest or the last one. More excitement that way. Just saying

Jovocop should Definitely be ahead of Thomas!

god, how id love to rewind back to 94. id a bet on the rags to win the cup

Hi it’s your best friend!

Great list with some great players.

Mattias Öhlund was a supersolid defenceman!

Didn’t the flyers draft at 10 in 1994?

The Devils had a hell of a draft that year!

Kim johnsson was great for flyers

Alfredson over Elias is crazy

teenagers looked so old back in the 90s

I remember a few years back there was some kind of poll and Sheldon Souray was picked and the best looking player in the NHL and the person commenting on it (don't remember who) said, "You mean it wasn't Ken Daneyko?"

Ah Cloutier in Detroit, I hope Lidstrom doesn't regularly give him beach volleyball nightmares during practice 🤧😅

Do a redraft on the 2001 draft

I was 3 days old on day 1 of this draft

Pretty crazy to think that 3/4 goalies drafted in the 1994 first round went nowhere. And the last was Dan Cloutier, whom I personally loved too.

I liked Cloutier as a person ... but didn't like him as a goalie. Loved his tenaciousness but would never rely on him for the big save in the big moments. I would have selected Curtis Brown or Dave Scatchard instead. Brown was a solid gritty role player in a few playoff rounds with the Sabres & Sharks.

Weak draft,no doubt.

The San Jose Whale Sharks

I’m only 20 years old and have very limited hockey knowledge from this era but I’m learning more and more with this channel so thank you

"You guys can decide whether that means it's a weak draft or if there's just a lot of really good goaltenders" I'd argue the latter. Some drafts are flush with great talent at certain positions and some others are not, goaltenders are no exception. 1994 was a strong draft for netminders it seems. Certainly far better than 2007 - the entire goaltender crop taken in that draft only combined for 148 NHL games, 126 of which were by Scott Darling.

Lists are great fun, mate

Imagine...Don Maloney drafting a future Calder winner....very funny stuff!

I adored Tomas Holmstrom growing up. In my opinion, he's the best net-front guy of all time.

As a detroit fan that got to see turco live againt ozzy in 2008, you don't have him high enough lol turco was the reason we have the puke moving goalies today.

Stevie Sullivan scored an amazing goal on his face for NJ, than they traded him for Dougie Gilmour n Dave Ellett (underrated)

It'd be interesting to see the alternate timeline where the Avs/Nordiques don't get Hejduk and Drury in this draft. Is Lacroix still able to put together a second cup winning team before the cap comes in? Do they even win the first?

5 devils on that list

Nabokov 💪

Ugh, I don't wanna hear the name Sergei Berezin. I feel like he was guaranteed to always score one of two against my Flyers.

Should have mentioned Jovanovski's rivalry with Lindros

Obviously no one would ever take 2 goalies at 4/6. But yea great goalie draft. Marty Turco 👌

I realllllly like it better when you go with the whole draft class instead of limiting yourself to those who originally went in the 1st round. Gives a more faithful portrait in my humble opinion.