The 2000 NHL Draft lottery was one of the biggest hit-or-miss entry draft classes in the past few decades. The top three picks in the first round of the 2000 draft lottery featured multiple forwards selected with over 300 career regular season goals and over 800 games played, including Marian Gaborik and Dany Heatley.
This draft class is remembered by the New York Islanders picking goaltender Rick DiPietro with the first overall pick in 2000. DiPietro is widely considered to be a mistake by the Isles, drafting him first overall in the 2000 draft lottery in the first round.
Henrik Lundqvist is a Hall-of-Fame goaltender who was undervalued in the seventh round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft
Until 2028, the Isles are going to be paying off the rest of DiPietro's contract that New York bought out in the 2013 offseason.
The Los Angeles Kings got pretty good value out of its first-round pick, selecting winger Alex Frolov 17th overall in the 2000 entry draft. Frolov scored over 150 career regular season goals and had multiple 20-goal seasons as a top-six-caliber forward for the Kings in the 2000s. But his career was cut short due to recurring lower-body injuries and playing in the KHL in the early 2010s decade.
Here is a look at our redraft of the 2000 NHL Draft lottery 25 years later.
In hindsight, it's weird to think about the idea of Henrik Lundqvist playing for a cross-state rival in an Islanders uniform for his career in the NHL in the 2000s and 2010s. Lundqvist is one of the best goalies and one of the true legends in New York Rangers franchise history.
Lundqvist was originally selected 205th overall in the seventh round of the 2000 draft by the Rangers. At the time, it would be insane to think that the Isles would draft Lundqvist instead of DiPietro with the first overall pick in this reimagining of the 2000 draft lottery.
Since the lockout, Lundqvist ranks in the top three among goaltenders in the league in wins, shutouts, and quality starts in the regular season. He won the Vezina Trophy in the 2011-12 season and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the 2020s.
There are three different forward draft options that would make sense for the Atlanta Trashers to select in this reimagining of the 2000 NHL draft lottery in the first round. Gaborik was originally selected third overall in the first round of the 2000 draft lottery by the Minnesota Wild.
Had Gaborik ended up going to the Thrashers second overall in this hypothetical reimagining of the 2000 draft lottery in the first round, it could've helped Atlanta be more formidable in the NHL in the Eastern Conference in the 2000s decade and maybe even the 2010s.
Gaborik is the only forward in this draft class from 2000 who played over 1,000 career regular season games and scored over 400 goals.
Instead of drafting Gaborik in the top three in this reimagining of the 2000 draft lottery, Minnesota gets a versatile and exciting offensive playmaker to add to their young forward core in the top six group with Heatley.
Although Heatley doesn't stay at getting drafted second overall by the Thrashers in this reimagining of the 2000 draft lottery, his offensive skill set and natural goal-scoring ability keeps him in the top three in this redraft going to Minnesota.