The 1997 NHL Entry Draft had multiple Los Angeles Kings' first-round draft picks, including one in the top three of this draft class. With the third overall pick, the Kings selected Finnish center Olli Jokinen.
Getting Marian Hossa in a redraft of the 1997 NHL Draft lottery could theoretically lift the Los Angeles Kings offense in the postseason in the early 2000s
This draft class from 1997 in the NHL is one of the better and deeper first rounds of the 1990s decade. It features three Hall-of-Famers, including the first overall pick and longtime Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton.
The Bruins definitely knocked it out of the park, picking Thornton first overall in the 1997 draft. Thornton played over 20 years in the NHL, and was a shoe-in to be a Hall-of-Fame inductee earlier this year with the 2025 class ceremony.
Other significant early draft picks from the 1997 class include center Patrick Marleau, Hall-of-Fame goaltender Roberto Luongo, and Hall-of-Fame forward Marian Hossa.
In this reimagining of the first round of the 1997 draft lottery, the Bruins stick with drafting Thornton first overall in this class. Thornton played the first eight years of his career in the NHL with the Bruins. And he was named an All-Star selection in five of his first eight years playing in the league for the Bruins and then the Sharks.
Thornton played the longest of any player selected in the first round of the 1997 draft. He leads the 1997 draft class with over 1,500 career points and ranks seventh in all-time points in NHL history.
In his time with the Bruins in the late 1990s and the early-to-mid 2000s, Thornton led the NHL in assists three times and he won the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP in the 2005-06 season for Boston.
The Sharks picked longtime face of the franchise Marleau second overall in the first round of the 1997 draft. Marleau played for over two decades in two separate stints with the Sharks.
In this redraft, though, the Sharks get two-time NHL All-Star and one-time William Jennings Trophy winner in goal, Roberto Luongo, with the second pick in the first round.
Picking Luongo gives the Sharks an elite goaltender who gets to move up a couple of spots in this hypothetical redraft of the first round of the 1997 class. Luongo was not only a Hall-of-Fame inductee, but also the 2007 Hart Trophy award winner as the league's most valuable player for that season.
If the Sharks had Luongo in goal in the 2000s and early 2010s, San Jose potentially could've had some deeper runs in the postseason with a consistent backstop in an all-time great netminder for the Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks.
The Kings originally selected Jokinen third overall in the first round of the 1997 draft. Jokinen had an established, solid career in the NHL for nearly two decades, mostly with the Panthers and Calgary Flames. He only played two seasons with the Kings before LA traded him to the Isles in the 1999 offseason for forwards like Bryan Smolinski and Zigmund Palffy.
Instead of picking Jokinen, Hossa slides up nine spots to go third overall in this redraft of the first round of this draft. Hossa would give the Kings hypothetically first-line forward who played nearly two decades in the NHL.
He was one of three players in this draft class to score over 1,000 career points. Hossa scored over 500 career goals and had three 40-goal seasons in the NHL.