Blake Wheeler is pretty clearly one of the five best and most accomplished players in the NHL from this draft class in 2004.
The Carolina Hurricanes got a pretty good draft pick at No. 4 overall in the first round of the 2004 draft lottery. Forward Andrew Ladd won a Stanley Cup as a rookie winger for the Hurricanes and former head coach Peter Laviolette in the 2006 postseason.
Instead of picking Ladd, the Hurricanes get Wheeler in this hypothetical reimagining of the 2004 draft lottery in the first round at the winger position. Wheeler scored over 900 career points in the regular season, and he played in over 1,000 career games.
Longtime Boston Bruins center David Krejci was originally selected 63rd overall by the Boston Bruins in the second round of the 2004 draft. Krejci was a really good center for the Bruins for multiple decades in Boston. He deserves to be selected in the top five in this redrafting of the 2004 lottery in the first round.
The Phoenix Coyotes originally picked Wheeler fifth overall, just inside the top five in the 2004 draft lottery. But Wheeler never wanted to play for the Coyotes, and he got his wish and was traded from Phoenix.
New Jersey Devils longtime veteran center Travis Zajac was originally selected in the first round, 20th overall, by New Jersey in the 2004 draft. He was picked just outside of the lottery in the 2004 draft in the first round.
Knowing that the Rangers had picked Hall-of-Fame goalie Henrik Lundqvist in the seventh round of the 2000 NHL Draft, a few years before they picked Montoya, New York probably didn't need to pick a netminder in the top 10 in the 2004 draft lottery in the first round.
Zajac is one of just six forwards in this draft class from 2004 who played over 1,000 career regular season games. While it's weird to imagine Zajac donning a rival jersey with the Rangers one state over in New York City, he would've helped give New York a boost on the offensive forward lines for well over a decade in the league in the 2000s and 2010s.