Originally selected 27th overall in the first round of the 1998 entry draft by the New Jersey Devils, center Scott Gomez jumps up 20 spots to go to the New York Rangers with a division foe in the East. Gomez scored over 750 career points and had over 550 assists.
Gomez moves into the top 10, going to the Rangers with the seventh overall pick in this reimagining of the 1998 draft in the first round. He was one of five centers from the 1998 draft class who played over 1,000 career regular season games and scored over 500 career points.
In the late 2000s, Gomez played a couple of seasons for the Rangers. He had back-to-back 40-point seasons for the Rangers in the late 2000s decade, and he was selected to the All-Star Team in 2008.
Chicago originally picked center Mark Bell with the eighth overall selection in the first round of the 1998 draft lottery. Bell had two 20-goal seasons for the Blackhawks while the franchise was struggling in the West in the early-to-mid 2000s.
Bell was the only center picked in the top 10 selections in the 1998 entry draft lottery who didn't play over 500 career games in the regular season.
Instead of picking Bell eighth overall in the first round of the 1998 draft, the Blackhawks draft center Mike Ribeiro in the top 10 to go to Chicago in this reimagining of the draft lottery. Ribeiro slides up nearly 30 picks to continue the run of five centers selected in the first eight picks in this reimagining of the 1998 draft lottery.
Ribeiro was one of five centers from the 1998 draft class who played over 1,000 career regular season games and scored over 700 points.
Longtime Devils and Canadiens right-winger Brian Gionta was one of a double-digit number of players from the 1998 draft class who played over 1,000 career games in the regular season. Gionta scored 595 career points and over 30 postseason goals in the playoffs for the Devils and Habs.
Gionta was originally picked in the third round (82nd overall) by the Devils in the 1998 draft. He moves into the first round, going in the top 10 at No. 9 overall to the Isles in this reimagining of the 1998 draft lottery.
The Isles' original ninth overall pick in the first round of the 1998 draft, center Mike Rupp, ended up getting drafted in the third round by the Devils a couple of years later in the 2000 draft.
Rupp never actually played a game for the Isles since he never signed to New York while playing in the OHL with the Erie Otters in the late 1990s. He scored the series-clinching goal for the Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals in the 2003 postseason.
While Stuart doesn't stay at the No. 3 overall pick by the Sharks in this hypothetical reimagining of the 1998 draft lottery, he does still go in the top 10 to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Stuart played over 1,000 career games and scored 335 career points.
The Maple Leafs originally picked center Nik Antropov 10th overall in the first round of the 1998 draft. But Antropov's two seasons in the NHL with over 30 assists and 55 points weren't full campaigns he spent with the Leafs in Toronto in the late 2000s.
The first year that the Carolina Hurricanes picked in the lottery in the first round of the entry draft was 1998. In the 1998 offseason, the Canes picked right-winger Jeff Heerema 11th overall in the first round of the draft lottery.
Heeremea was the only forward selected in the draft lottery in 1998 who didn't played 100 career games in the regular season.
Despite not staying at No. 2 overall in the 1998 draft lottery in the first round, Legwand is still worth a lottery pick by the Canes in this reimagining of the '98 draft hypothetically. Legwand played over 1,000 career games and he ranks in the top 10 in this draft class from 1998 in points scored (618).