CAN'T MISS?

This weekend’s NHL draft is seen as the deepest in years. Only the future will tell

Ten years after he was a first-round bust who had a cup of coffee in the National hockey League, hugh Jessiman signed a one-year contract last month to play for Croatian-based team Medvescak Zagreb in Russia’s KHL. In a news release, the team’s athletic director described its new forward as a “big, explosive and powerful striker” who “can play a physical game if necessary. From him we expect a lot of good things.”

Yes, some things never change.

In 2003, scouts were saying similar things about the 6-foot-6 prospect, who was given the nickname ''Huge Specimen.” The New York Rangers thought so highly of Jessiman they selected him 12th overall, one spot ahead of dustin Brown, as well as Zach Parise (No. 17), Ryan Getzlaf (No. 19), Ryan Kesler (No. 23), Mike Richards (No. 24), Corey Perry (No. 28), Loui Eriksson (No. 33) and Patrice Bergeron (No. 45).

Out of that draft, Jessiman became the answer to a trivia question. In a can’t-miss draft that contained 24 future allstars, seven captains and onethird of the roster that won gold at the 2010 Olympics, he was the one big miss.

“hugh Jessiman was a highly regarded prospect,” said dave Taylor, who in 2003 was the Los Angeles Kings general manager. “he was a giant who could skate and handle the puck. hindsight is pretty difficult.”

heading into this Sunday’s draft, there is bound to be a Jessiman or two lurking in the first round. But in a year in which scouts are salivating at not only the top-end players but the depth of talent available, there could also be a haul similar to that of 2003.

Nathan MacKinnon, Seth Jones and Jonathan Drouin have received most of the attention so far, but scouts believe the next five — Elias Lindholm, Aleksander Barkov, Valeri Nichushkin, Sean Monahan and Darnell Nurse — are right there with them. And unlike last year, in which several prospects had missed significant time with injuries or virtually came out of nowhere, the cream of this year’s crop have been impact players on their team for not just one but two seasons.

As one scout said, you know this draft has the potential to be special when Anthony Mantha, a 6-foot-4 winger who was one of only three players in the CHL to score 50 goals last year, is considered a late first-round pick.

“I think this is just like 2003,” said TSN analyst and scout Craig Button, who was general manager of the Calgary Flames in 2002-03. “I think they’re all going to be excellent NHL players. If you want to sit here and say I think MacKinnon is better than Drouin, it doesn’t matter. It’s a fine line. I can’t sit here and say you’re wrong.

“I think they’re all equally elite prospects. If you’re looking for that defenceman, it’s Jones. If you’re looking for a hard-driving, scoring centreman, it’s MacKinnon. If you’re looking for a brilliant playmaking winger, it’s Drouin.”

The same logic went into 2003, when Pittsburgh took the best goalie (Marc-André Fleury) at No. 1, Carolina took the best centre (Eric Staal) at No. 2 and Florida took the best winger (Nathan Horton) at No. 3. And that didn’t even scratch the surface.

That draft’s first round included franchise players such as Thomas Vanek, Ryan Suter, Dion Phaneuf, Jeff Carter and Brent Seabrook. But players such as Eriksson, Bergeron, Shea Weber, Corey Crawford, David Backes and Jimmy Howard were selected in the second round.

The real finds, of course, came much later when Joe Pavelski went in the seventh round, dustin Byfuglien and Matt Moulson both went in the eighth and goaltenders Jaroslav Halak and Brian elliott, now teammates in St. Louis, went in the ninth.

“We felt like we were going to get a player,” said then-Boston Bruins gM Mike O’Connell, who selected defenceman Mark Stuart in the first round and Bergeron in the second. “There were enough in this draft where you had to.”

Los Angeles had three picks in the first round. After taking Brown, their future captain, at No. 13, they made a safe selection with Brian Boyle at No. 26, but chose Jeff Tambellini one spot ahead of Perry at No. 27.

“The reason Corey Perry goes 28th isn’t because everybody was stupid, it’s because he wasn’t a very good skater at that time,” said Tampa Bay Lightning director of amateur scouting Al Murray, who was then working for the Kings. “The reason Bergeron goes in the second round instead of the first round is because there were concerns about his skating, too.

“drafting is one part of it. But even more so is the development that the players get after that. What you had in that case were some guys who had some limitations [who] obviously worked hard at it.”

Because the NhL had yet to crack down on obstruction, New Jersey devils gM Lou Lamoriello said many teams placed an emphasis on size back then. It is why Jessiman went as high as he did and why the 5-foot-11 Parise fell to 17th.

“We never felt that Parise would be available when he was,” said Lamoriello, who added that the 2004-05 lockout was also helpful in allowing this crop of players to spend a year developing in the American hockey League. “despite having the quality and quantity, they all were allowed to grow.”

So will this year’s draft class grow into franchise players? Will there be another Staal, Parise, Getzlaf and Perry? Will there be another Jessiman? Time will tell. “I don’t think you can do a comparable and say this year’s draft will have as many top players as the 2003 draft,” Murray said. “Anyone who is saying that is pulling stuff out of their butt. you can say it has the same features as the 2003 draft, in that there’s a highend group of elite players who have been elite for two years and there’s a lot of depth. But to say it’s at that same level is premature.”

“We won’t know until 10 years down the road.”