With the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 1999 draft lottery, the Washington Capitals originally picked center Kris Beech from the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL. Beech was the only center picked in the top 10 in the 1999 draft lottery who played under 200 career games in the regular season.
Big forward Martin Havlat slides up 19 spots to be picked in the top 10 in this reimagining of the 1999 draft lottery in the NHL.
The Caps pick another center in this redraft, getting Havlat instead of Beech to boost Washington's middle-line depth at the center position in the 2000s decade.
Havlat was one of six players from this draft class from 1999 who scored over 500 career regular season points. He was one of fewer than five wingers from this draft class who were selected to multiple All-Star Teams in the NHL.
In the eighth spot in the first round of the 1999 draft lottery in the top 10, the Isles originally picked left wing Taylor Pyatt. He was the first winger picked in the top 10 after the Sedin twins who played over 500 career regular season games.
The Isles pick defenseman Barret Jackman, who was originally drafted 17th overall by the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the 1999 draft. Jackman was the only defenseman from the 1999 draft class who played over 800 career regular season games.
The Isles get a pretty good coup from this redrafting of the 1999 draft lottery, picking up Vrbata and Jackman in the first round to boost their odds of making deep playoff runs in the East going into the 2000s decade.
The Rangers picked forward Jamie Lundmark, who only played 114 career regular season games for New York in the early-to-mid 2000s decade before getting traded away in the 05-06 season, ninth overall in the 1999 draft in the first round.
Instead of picking Lundmark near the end of the top 10 picks in the 1999 draft lottery in the first round, New York picks up winger Martin Erat from Nashville.
Erat was a great pickup value by the Preds in the seventh round (191st overall) of the 1999 draft in the later rounds. He had a good run with the Preds in Nashville for over a decade. Erat had three 20-goal seasons and led the team in game-winning goals in the 2007-08 season for Nashville.