23 years ago today, the NHL held its annual draft, and it was one for the ages. One of the most spectacular crops of first-round talent seen in years. That year, the Montreal Canadiens had the 10th overall pick, and they opted for Belarus-born forward Andrei Kostitsyn.
While he was no doubt a talented player, Kostitsyn played only 398 NHL games, during which he recorded 222 points. When the Canadiens gave up on him and traded him to the Nashville Predators for a couple of draft picks at the 2011-12 deadline, he finished the season with them, then headed to the KHL and never looked back.
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In an average draft year, taking the Belarusian might not have been a bad pick, but in 2003, when the Canadiens drafted him, there were plenty of highly talented players still available. At number 11, the Philadelphia Flyers picked Jeff Carter, who would go on to play 1321 games in the NHL, putting on 851 points and winning two Stanley Cups with the Los Angeles Kings.
Speaking of the Kings, at number 13 they picked Dustin Brown, who played 1,296 NHL games, scoring 712 points, and led them to two Stanley Cups as team captain, with Carter as a teammate. In 2023, Los Angeles installed a statue of Brown outside its arena.
Just after the Kings, at number 14, the Chicago Blackhawks grabbed Brent Seabrook, who spent his whole 15-season career in Chicago, playing 1114 games, and was an integral part of the core that netted the Hawks two Stanley Cups.
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At 17, the New Jersey Devils picked Zach Parise, another member of the 1,000 games club. At 19, the Anaheim Ducks selected Ryan Getzlaf, and they made out like bandits when they also picked up the almost immortal Corey Perry, who has yet to retire at 28th overall. The pair would lead them to a Stanley Cup win a couple of years later. The list goes on and on. Brent Burns, Ryan Kessler, Mike Richards, and Brian Boyle were also picked in the first round.
But the steal of the draft was the Boston Bruins, who selected Patrice Bergeron with the 45th overall pick, straight out of the Canadiens’ system. The elite two-way center became a regular Frank J. Selke trophy winner, led the Bruins to a Stanley Cup, and will likely be inducted into the Hall of Fame shortly. The Nashville Predators are a close second, though, as they acquired Shea Weber with the 49th overall pick. It’s also worth mentioning that in the seventh round, the San Jose Sharks landed Joe Pavelski, while the Hawks also landed Corey Crawford in the second round and Dustin Byfuglien in the eighth round.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens also added Cory Urquhart, Maxim Lapierre, Ryan O’Byrne, Corey Locke, Danny Stewart, Christopher Heino-Lindberg, Mark Flood, Oskari Korpikari, Jimmy Bonneau, and Jaroslav Halak, who can probably be seen as their best selection, in the ninth and final round.
Hindsight is always 20/20, as they say, but it’s hard to fathom how the Canadiens could leave so much talent on the table when it was right there ripe for the picking.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
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