Top 6 WORST First Overall Picks in NHL History!

There's a ton of pressure put on the first overall pick in the NHL entry draft. Sometimes these players can live up to the hype, while others simply couldn't keep up. Here are the top 6 WORST first overall picks in NHL History.

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[GuitarLessonsBobbyCrispy]

I watched a documentary on NHL draft picks about 15 years ago, and I'll never forget what the narrator said at the beginning; 'Deciding which hockey players in the minors will succeed in the NHL is like trying to guess which high school students will become doctors just by looking at their grades'.

[alfiesmullet]

It is said Alex Daigle moved faster to his mailbox to get his paycheck than he ever did on the ice for the Sens

[brucemckinlay]

The Oilers also got a 3rd round pick along with throw-in Pochiro for Yakupov. That pick was used to select Stuart Skinner.

[joelbrittain]

I remember hearing Ray Ferraro talking about Yakupov -- he said he played "like he was being chased by bees". Cracks me up every time I think about it.

[MS-rodm]

"I don't really like playing without the puck, skate all the time and do forecheck and hit somebody every shift, ” Yakupov said to reporters after an early-season loss. “I don't think it's my game."

[hankscorpio]

DiPietro was good when he played. Unfortunately he didn't play a lot because of injuries.

[smith]

I think the worst first overall pick, maybe not the biggest bust, was Rick Pagnutti, drafted first overall by the LA Kings in1967 and never played an NHL game.

[brianfantana]

Greg Joly blew his knee and wrist out early in his career. The Caps completely mismanaged him. Hate how the media says he was a bad pick...Joly was extremely unlucky to get picked by an organization that didn't know what they were doing.

[wm]

When the WJHC was in Red Deer/Calgary, I made it to a game and Daigle went ripping up the wing around the defence to score.

It was a fantastic display of his talent. Unfortunately, what goes on between a players ears isn't as visible.

[j]

That quote from Daigle reminds me of Shane Wright, he was cocky about how he was gonna go first and how he was learning French in anticipation of going to the Habs

[gordonklassen]

1979/80 Winnipeg Jets select for their first ever NHL selection, Jimmy Mann.

[JBM]

Yakupov hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in the KHL, either. He scored 23 goals in 47 games with SKA St. Petersburg, slipped to 10 goals in 46 games, and has failed to reach double figures since. He’s now on his third KHL club with Omsk Avangard.

[davismavis]

I watched Yakapov play in the OHL and he was heads and tails over the other guys on the ice, when he wanted to be. One time his team was down by 2 with 2 minutes left and he decided to try and got 2 to tie it and then they won in overtime. The problem was he wasn't motivated to get better by playing against the best. He got too used to being so much better that he didn't have to put in a full effort but for the last 2 minutes of the game, if the team needed him to do it.

[Jeneric]

I mean, DiPietro wasn't really bad. Just an unfortunate turn of events that is impossible to predict ahead of time. That NYI had horrible judgment on long term contracts is not a draft pick-related issue.

[RRaquello]

Remember in the case of DiPietro that the injury that started his downward spiral occurred in the skills competition at the All-Star Game. Which means, at one time, he was good enough to get picked to play in the All-Star Game. He injured his hip and was never healthy after that. Still, it was a beyond-idiotic move for the Islanders to pick him two years after taking Luongo, then trading Luongo. That was the nadir of the career of GM Mike Milbury.

[yeltsin]

I feel bad for the caps guy. No way he could have succeeded with that pressure and being on that team

[niskunixon]

should have shown the Hemsky Goal on the Stefan misshap!

[dissimulii]

yeah yeah, Daigle was a 'bust' but the guy does deserve some credit, he did end his career on a somewhat positive note. he managed to play 12 seasons in the NHL. around 2000 he quit professional hockey for like 2 years then got back into the NHL on a tryout from Pittsburgh. in his second last NHL season he led the Wild in points, matching his career high season points total from nearly a decade earlier.

[canuck_gamer]

Yakupov was never supposed to be a generational player. He came out of a draft that wasn't very deep and he had unrealistic expectations put on him right from the start. If you look at his numbers, there was nothing wrong with his play. But when compared to what the fans THOUGHT they were getting, he had no chance.

[father]

Number 1 should be Claude Gauthier, André Veilleux and Rick Pagnutti who haven't played a single NHL game
Gord Kluzak was also a pretty big bust but suffered from injuries