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All 1st Round Draft Pick Team

By Richard Gonzalez

I am going to evaluate all of the first-round draft picks to determine an all first-round draft pick line. To recap, here is the following criteria that will be used: I’m not going to include any pick lower than the seventh round, their professor experience will be the main determining factor starting with the NHL, KHL, AHL, and/or any other professional leagues they played for.

The Anaheim Ducks selected 30 first-round players out of a possible 27 picks. The Ducks selected seven centers, five right-wingers, eight left-wingers, ten defensemen, and zero goalies.

The all first-round draft pick line are the following:

LW) Paul Kariya C) Ryan Getzlaf RW) Corey Perry

D) Oleg Tverdovsky D) Ruslan Salei

G) See Below

LW) Paul Kariya was the first-ever entry draft pick by the Mighty Ducks. Kariya was selected in the 1993 draft (4th overall). He has played in 989 NHL games with the Ducks (606), Colorado Avalanche (51), Nashville Predators (164), and the St. Louis Blues (168). He has scored 989 points (402 goals and 587 assists) in a span of 15 seasons. He has won the Lady Byng trophy twice, a seven-time all-star (three 1st team and two-second team). He also has had 39 points in 46 playoff games and is a hall-of-famer. He recently had his number retired by the Ducks and is retired from professional hockey.

 

C) Ryan Getzlaf was selected in the 2003 draft (19th overall). He has played all 1,053 games with the Mighty Ducks/Duck and scored 965 points (274 goals and 691 assists), in a span of 15 seasons. He also has 125 playoff games scoring 120 points (37 goals and 83 assists), to include the 17 points he scored during the 2006-07 playoffs, which would result in winning the Stanley Cup. He represented the Ducks in the all-star game three different times, top ten in voting for the Hart trophy for three different seasons. He is coming off a 42 point season and has one year left before he is set to become an unrestricted free agent.

RW) Corey Perry was also selected in the 2003 draft (28th overall). He has played in 1,045 games with the Mighty Ducks/Ducks (988) and the Dallas Stars (57). He has scored 794 points (377 goals and 420 assists) in a span of 15 seasons. He also added 89 points (36 goals and 53 assists) in 118 playoff games, to include the 15 points for the 2006-07 playoffs where the Ducks won the Stanley Cup. Perry has represented the Ducks in the All-Star game on four occasions, won the Hart trophy and the Rocket Richard trophy. He was bought out of his contract by the Ducks and signed a one-year deal with the Stars. This past season, he scored 21 points (five goals and 16 assist) in 57 games and is set to become an unrestricted free agent.

D) Oleg Tverdovsky was selected in the 1994 draft (2nd overall). He has played in 713 games with the [Mighty] Ducks (324), Winnipeg Jets (31), Phoenix Coyotes (210), New Jersey Devils (50), Carolina Hurricanes (72), and the Los Angeles Kings (26). Tverdovsky has scored 317 points (77 goals and 240 assists) in a span of 11 seasons. He has played in one all-star game and has won the Stanley Cup twice (Devils and Hurricanes). He also finished off his career playing in the KHL, where he played in 191 games and scored 80 points (29 goals and 51 assists). He won the KHL’s Gagarin Cup for the 2010-11 season and is a winner of an Olympic Bronze Medal. He is currently retired from professional hockey.

D) Ruslan Salei was selected in the 1996 draft (9th overall). He has played in 917 games with the [Mighty] Ducks (594), Panthers (147), Avalanche (101), and the Detroit Redwings (75). Salei scored 204 points (45 goals and 159 assists) in a span of 14 seasons. It was hard not to give credit to Cam Fowler, who was selected in the 2012 draft (12th overall). Fowler has 679 games and has scored 301 points (67 goals and 234 assists) in a span of ten seasons. One thing to note is the penalty minutes. Fowler has a career total of 185 and Salei’s total is 1,065.

Photo: OC Register

“Ducks Ruslan Salei was named one of the stars in game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals on May 31, 2003,” via the OC Register.

An argument can be made for Fowler and I got stuck on this for some time but ultimately would have to go with Salei. Salei only gave up the puck 113 times in his career. Salei was part of the Lokomotiv team that tragedy had their plane crash so he is no longer with us now.

There has never been a goalie selected in the first round by the Ducks in franchise history so just for the purpose of completing this list, I will include a goalie pick from the eighth round.

G) Martin Gerber was selected in the eight-round, 232nd overall, in the 2001 draft. He has played in 229 NHL games with the [Mighty] Ducks (54), Hurricanes (60), Ottawa Senators (100), and Oilers (3). Gerber has a career GAA of 2.63, a save percentage of .911, and has recorded ten shutouts in a span of seven seasons.

This concludes the break down of the all-time draft picks rounds 1-7. Be sure to leave your comments. Agree/disagree or is there anyone else that you think should have been included.

Related Articles:

All 2nd Round Draft Pick Team

All 3rd Round Draft Pick Team

All 4th Round Draft Pick Team

All 5th Round Draft Pick Team

All 6th Round Draft Pick Team

All 7th Round Draft Pick Team

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October 5th, 2020

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