Based on the total body of work in his NHL career, it's hard to not put longtime San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars center Joe Pavelski in the top five in this hypothetical reimagining of the 2003 draft in the first round.
Instead of picking winger Nikolai Zherdev fourth overall in the top five of this reimagining of the 2003 draft lottery, the Columbus Blue Jackets get Pavelski more than five rounds higher than he was originally selected.
Pavelski led all centers in this draft class in goals scored (476), total points (1,068), and total points in the postseason in the playoffs (143).
He was an absolute steal for the Sharks in the seventh round (205th overall) of the 2003 draft. Pavelski played over a dozen seasons for the Sharks in San Jose, and he would've been a big upgrade at forward for the Blue Jackets had he ended up in Columbus in the 2000s and 2010s decade in retrospect.
Instead of going 20th overall in the first round of the 2003 draft to the Minnesota Wild, defenseman Burns slides up 15 spots to get picked by the Buffalo Sabres in the top five at No. 5 overall in the draft lottery.
If he can stay healthy this regular season, Burns should end up being the player who has the most games played from this draft class. He's currently a little under two dozen games played away from passing Ryan Suter for the most games played in this draft class overall from 2003.
The Sabres originally selected winger Thomas Vanek fifth overall in the first round of the 2003 draft lottery. Burns, instead of starting his career with the Wild and then getting traded to the Sharks, he goes to the Sabres in the Eastern Conference in 2003.
The run of defensemen being picked in the top 10 in the draft lottery in 2003 in the first round continues in this reimagining of the 2003 class, with Shea Weber going sixth overall to the Sharks in San Jose. Weber was a steal in the second round, 49th overall, by the Nashville Predators in the 2003 draft over two decades ago.
Weber is one of the double-digit number of players from this draft class who played over 1,000 career games in the regular season.