The first of two top-six draft picks for the Edmonton Oilers in the 1994 entry draft goes to longtime Colorado Avalanche right-winger and Stanley Cup winner Milan Hejduk. He was also one of seven players in this draft class to play over 1,000 games.
Hejduk was one of the four players from this draft class who achieved 800 career points. He peaked in the 2002-03 campaign with Colorado when he scored 50 goals and won the Rocket Richard Trophy.
Ed Jovanovski was originally picked first overall in the 1994 draft. He was not only the best blue-liner in this draft class of established defensemen in the NHL, but he also played in over 1,100 career regular season games.
The Hartford Whalers picked right-winger Jeff O'Neill with the fifth pick in the first round of the 1994 draft. O'Neill was definitely worth a first-round pick for his career with the Whalers and Carolina Hurricanes in the 1990s and 2000s. But Jovanovski would be a long-term upgrade for their blue line to anchor this group.
Longtime Oilers winger Ryan Smyth was one of the best and most accomplished top-six forward careers in this draft class from 1994. There's no reason for the Oilers to change their pick here after Smyth gave Edmonton 15 productive and valuable seasons in the NHL as a potent two-way winger in the West.
Smyth was one of just three players in this draft class to play over 1,200 career games and score over 800 points in the NHL.
If the Kings could do it all over again, the front office would pick another strong goaltender or defensemen from this draft in 1994 instead of Storr in net. Storr did have a handful of seasons as a starting goaltender and nearly a decade of service between the pipes with the Kings. But this was a very strong goalie class that featured four netminders with over 200 career wins and over 50 games played in the postseason in the NHL.
I think there is a good case to be made that Tomas Vokoun was the most underrated goaltender in this draft class from 1994 between the pipes. Vokoun was the only goalie in this draft class from 1994 to play 700 career regular season games. He also led this group in goalie point shares and goals saved above average retroactively.
The Nashville Predators (by way of a trade in the expansion with the Montreal Canadiens) got an absolute draft-night steal in Vokoun in the ninth round (226th overall). Vokoun had eight productive seasons in Nashville and another few with the Panthers, where he was selected for a combined two All-Star games.