There aren't many draft classes in the recent history of the NHL Draft in the past few decades that had two better Russian players being selected at the top of the draft lottery than the class from 2004. Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin are two of the best Russian players in the history of the league in the NHL.
The 2004 NHL Draft has one of the best top two pick runs, including Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin being picked among the Russian forwards in the first round
Ovechkin is the all-time goals leader in the history of the NHL for the Washington Capitals. And Malkin is the third-best scorer in the franchise history of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ovechkin and Malkin have combined to win four Hart Trophies and four Stanley Cup rings.
This draft will also be remembered for having some solid goaltending depth from the first few rounds of the 2004 entry draft class. Five goalies in this draft class all have at least 100 career wins and a career save percentage above .910.
In the 2004 draft lottery, the Los Angeles Kings picked a player in the first round who only played five career games in the NHL, and he never scored any career goals or points in the league.
Here's a redraft of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft lottery in the first round, a little over two decades after this draft originally took place.
It doesn't make much of any sense for me to make any adjustments to the players that were the top two picks in this draft lottery from 2004, a little over two decades ago. Ovechkin is the Capitals' all-time leading scorer in goals and total points. He led the franchise to its only Stanley Cup championship in 2018.
Earlier this regular season in the 2025-26 campaign, Ovechkin became the first player in NHL history to score 900 career goals in the regular season. Ovechkin was the first player from this draft class of 2004 to score 1,000 career points. And he is the only player from this draft class from the 2004 lottery who has scored over 1,500 career points in the regular season.
Both top two picks in the 2004 draft lottery in the first round stay the same in this hypothetical reimagining of the 2004 draft class. Malkin is a former league MVP and a multi-time All-Star selection who helped the Penguins win multiple Stanley Cups in the 2000s and 2010s decades.
Malkin is also pretty much guaranteed to be a future Hall-of-Famer on the first ballot for the Penguins in the near future.
If not for some recurring injury issues in the 2010s and 2020s decades, Malkin could be up there with Ovechkin among the players from this draft class in 2004 who scored over 1,500 career points in the NHL.
Longtime Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne was so good in his career in the Music City in the 2000s and 2010s decades that he is hard to keep out of the top three picks in this redraft from 2004. Rinne was a really good goalie late into his career in Nashville. He was a three-time NHL All-Star, and he won one Vezina Trophy with the Predators in the 2017-18 season.
Rinne is the only goalie from this draft class from 2004 who registered over 50 career shutouts in the regular season and won over 300 career games for the Predators over the span of nearly a two-decade long career in the league.
Even though it would feel weird for NHL fans to see Rinne in a Chicago jersey, this would be the best pick for the Blackhawks to make in the first round of this 2004 lottery redraft.