Draft Madness, Part 3

Okay, enough with the new jerseys. I'm going to let sleeping dogs lie and get on with my riveting look at the past ten years of draftees - all leading up to the big event, Friday's NHL Draft live from Columbus, Ohio. I can hardly contain my excitement, I swear.

On with 2001 and 2002:

2001 Draft
1. Ilya Kovalchuk
2. Jason Spezza
4. Stephen Weiss
7. Mike Komisarek
8. Pascal Leclaire
13. Ales Hemsky
19. Shaone Morrisonn
20. Marcel Goc
21. Colby Armstrong
22. Jiri Novotny
30. Dave Steckel
32. Derek Roy
40. Fedor Tyutin
55. Jason Pomminville
63. Peter Budaj
71. Tomas Plekanic
98. Jordin Tootoo
99. Ray Emery
101. Cory Stillman
127. Christoph Schubert
133. Jussi Markkanen
151. Kevin Bieksa
175. Ryan Clowe
179. Andrew Alberts
192. Jussi Jokinen
193. Brooks Laich
202. Derek Boogaard
214. Cristobal Huet
223. Brandon Bochenski
227. Marek Svatos
232. Martin Gerber
238. Ryan Hollweg
241. Milan Jurcina

This year was chock full of big names...and big muscles, too, with Komisarek, Tootoo, Bieksa, Boogaard and Hollweg all getting drafted. Lots of goalies, lots of Caps property (5, at least for now), and everyone's favorite benchwarmer Martin Gerber. And of course, primadonna extraordinaire Kovalchuk grabbing the number one spot away from smiley boy Spezza. Life's just not fair...
Steal of the Draft: 3-way tie – Cristobal Huet, 214th Overall; Marek Svatos, 227th Overall, Milan Jurcina, 241st Overall

2002 Draft
1. Rick Nash
2. Kari Lehtonen
3. Jay Bouwmeester
4. Joni Pitkanen
5. Ryan Whitney
6. Scott Upshall
7. Joffrey Lupul
12. Steve Eminger
13. Alexander Semin
14. Chris Higgins
16. Jakub Klepis
17. Boyd Gordon
20. Daniel Paille
21. Anton Babchuk
23. Ben Eager
24. Alex Steen
25. Cam Ward
29. Hannu Toivonen
36. Jarret Stoll
44. Matt Greene
57. Matt Stajan
58. Jiri Hudler
63. Tomas Fleischmann
69. Erik Christensen
*90. Matthew Lombardi
95. Valtteri Filppula
117. Cam Janssen
240. Petr Prucha

The return of Matthew Lombardi sees him going earlier than his first go-round, snapped up at 90th and still a bargain. Five years later we're now at the point when these guys are starting to hit big if they haven't already, and we're only just starting to see what some of them can really do - Ben Eager, Erik Christensen, Chris Higgins, and our own quintet of talented players, all the future of the NHL. As for #117, let's hope he's not in that equation. For those of you wondering, yes, the Caps hold the dubious distinction of giving him his first (and possibly last) career NHL goal. Yay us.
Steal of the Draft: Petr Prucha, 240th Overall

Next up: 2003 and 2004...