Nashville Revisited, 20 Years After the Stacked 2003 NHL Draft
Not many active players remain from the famed 2003 NHL draft in Nashville. As we admire how good that class became, the 2023 draft is a chance to repeat the cycle.
Twenty years ago on June 21, the Nashville Predators served up their legendary southern hospitality at a major NHL event for the first time as the hosts of the 2003 NHL draft.
Expansion draft rules were very different when the Predators joined the league in 1998. Five years in, they were still looking for their first playoff appearance and their first .500 season.
While broadband internet had become widely available by 2003, high-definition TV broadcasts were still a couple of years away from becoming commonplace. That meant that NHL scouts still relied on in-person player viewings — although that year, it was hard to go wrong. The group that came out of Nashville two decades ago is widely considered to be one of the best of all-time.
As hosts, the Predators made sure they played a starring role for their fans who attended live at what was then still known as the Gaylord Entertainment Center. Nashville made 13 picks over June 21 and 22, 2003, including four in the first two rounds as GM David Poile built up his team's defense for coach Barry Trotz.
That draft turned into a game-changer for the Preds, who took defenseman Ryan Suter at No. 7, Kevin Klein and No. 37 and Shea Weber at No. 49. The trio didn't reach the NHL until the 2005-06 season, but they quickly became the foundation for a squad on the rise. Starting in 2003-04, Nashville started a streak of seven playoff appearances in the next eight seasons.
Two decades later, the draft returns. And after knocking it out of the park as hosts of the 2016 NHL All-Star Game and the 2017 Stanley Cup final, Music City will be hosting a super-sized week of NHL events this time around. That includes the first fully-staged NHL Awards since before the pandemic on Monday, June 26, as well as the draft itself on June 28 and 29.
This year, of course, Poile will be feted. He'll be days away from leaving his post, with Trotz officially moving into the GM's chair on July 1. And once again, the Preds are rich with picks after their trade-deadline sell-off — another 13, including two in the first round (Nos. 15 and 24) and two in the second (Nos. 46 and 47).
Of course, Nashville wasn't the only franchise to re-chart its course thanks to its selections from the 2003 draft. Great players were available, and quite a few of them fast-tracked their teams to Stanley Cups in short order.
- The Carolina Hurricanes selected Eric Staal at No. 2. Just three years later, at age 21, he led his team with 28 playoff points as the Hurricanes won their first and only championship to date in 2006.
- The Anaheim Ducks picked 19th and 28th — and came away with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. The pair made their NHL debuts after the lockout in the 2005-06 season. One year later, as sophomores, Getzlaf led the Ducks in playoff scoring, and Perry tied with Teemu Selanne and Chris Pronger for second place as the Ducks lifted their franchise's first and only Stanley Cup to date in 2007.
- The Detroit Red Wings were largely a veteran team when they won the Stanley Cup in 2008. In 2003, they were one year removed from a Stanley Cup championship and had traded away their first- and third-round picks. The Red Wings scooped up a couple of useful players in goalie Jimmy Howard at No. 64 and defenseman Kyle Quincey at No. 132, but both were still outside the big club during the 2008 Cup run.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins shocked the crowd in Nashville when they used the first overall pick in 2003 on a goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury. Six years later, Fleury held down the fort as the young Penguins lifted their first Stanley Cup since 1992.
- Around the Chicago Blackhawks, we hear a lot more about the 2006 draft, which yielded Jonathan Toews at No. 3, and the lottery win in 2007, which delivered Patrick Kane. But that Stanley Cup-winning team in 2010 could never have won without two key players from 2003, both from the WHL: Brent Seabrook, a blue-chipper drafted at No. 14 out of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, and unheralded Dustin Byfuglien in the eighth round at No. 245, from the Prince George Cougars.
- The Boston Bruins' 2011 Cup was a coming-out party for then-25-year-old Patrice Bergeron. He was one of the biggest steals of the draft at No. 45. Bergeron now sits second in his class with 1,040 total points, behind only Eric Staal, even though his actual calling card is the two-way game that has made him a Selke Trophy finalist for the last 12 consecutive seasons. Bergeron has also won the Selke five times, more than any other player, with a potential sixth win on tap in Nashville next Monday.
- One more. When the Los Angeles Kings won their Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014, Dustin Brown captained the team — the No. 13 pick in 2003 who finished his career at a relatively tame 712 regular-season points. But with 1,296 games played, all with Los Angeles, Brown is so revered that he has already had his number retired by the Kings. A statue in his honor was also unveiled outside Crypto.com Arena last February.The 2012 edition of the Kings also featured three picks from 2003 who had all been drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers and subsequently landed in Los Angeles via trades: Jeff Carter (No. 11), Mike Richards (No. 24) and Colin Fraser (No. 69). Brad Richardson was also part of the 2003 draft, originally selected at No. 163 by the Colorado Avalanche.
Two decades after their names were called in Nashville, most of the players from the class of 2003 have moved on from the NHL. Some of those who remain refuse to go quietly, still playing important roles in the just-completed Stanley Cup playoffs.
Eric Staal has that Cup ring from 2006. After a long stretch without contending, he has reached the final again in two of the last three years, with the Montreal Canadiens in 2021 and with the Florida Panthers this spring.
Joe Pavelski was a seventh-round pick by the San Jose Sharks at No. 205 and is now the fourth highest-scoring player from his very elite draft class, at 1,001 points. He's still looking for his first title after reaching the final with the Sharks in 2016 and with the Dallas Stars in the 2020 bubble. This year, his four game-winning goals tied Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe of Florida for the most in the playoffs.
Pavelski's former teammate on the Sharks, Brent Burns, is in a similar boat. He has 1,333 games played and counting and is sixth in total minutes played since ice-time stats started being kept in 1997-98 — behind only Zdeno Chara, Suter, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Duncan Keith.
And whatever Burns totes around in that mysterious backpack of his, it's keeping his body young. At 26 minutes per game in the playoffs, he ranked seventh in average ice time. His quest for a ring also continues.
Next week, with the class of '23 rumored to bring another bonanza of elite talent, here's hoping the NHL photographers can assemble 18 of this year's top prospects on the same staircase that spawned that legendary group picture from 20 years ago.
Hopefully, in 2043, we can marvel at how many of those players met or exceeded the lofty expectations that are heavy on their shoulders now and admire the under-the-radar talents who somehow managed to sneak under the scouts' radar.