While it might not have been the deepest class in the last few decades, the 2007 NHL Entry Draft produced some of the biggest stars of the following decade. Yet, many of the best players picked in this draft class weren't among the first names called off the board in the first round.
Patrick Kane was the first overall pick to Chicago and he would ultimately become the defining player of this draft class. But other future stars like Jamie Benn, P.K. Subban, Logan Couture, and Max Pacioretty were also picked later in this draft class from 2007.
This was also a notoriously weak draft class for the netminders. There wasn't a single goalie picked in the 2007 draft who started 150 regular season games.
Re-drafting the top 14 picks of the 2007 NHL Draft
The Los Angeles Kings had the fourth overall pick in the 2007 draft lottery, which was used to select defenseman Thomas Hickey. While Hickey would end up going on to have a pretty long NHL career, there were multiple future All-Star selections picked after No. 4 in the first round.
Here's a look at a redoing of the 2007 NHL Draft lottery nearly 20 years later.
There is no reason I can think of why the Chicago Blackhawks shouldn't pick Kane first overall in this redraft from 2007 in the first round. Kane and center Jonathan Toews were the faces of the Blackhawks dynasty in the early-to-mid 2010s. He is one of the best American-born players in the history of the NHL.
Kane is the only American-born player in NHL history with at least 1,400 career points. The future Hall-of-Fame winger has been selected to nine NHL All-Star games, won the Hart Trophy in the 2015-16 season, and won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2013. He won three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks in the 2010s.
While James van Riemsdyk was a good top-six winger in the NHL for well over a decade, the Philadelphia Flyers can't pass up the opportunity to pick a franchise cornerstone and three-time NHL All-Star selection in longtime Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn.
As one of the true steals of the 2007 draft class, Benn moves up over 100 picks to be selected second overall in the first round by the Flyers. Benn and Kane are the only two forwards from this draft class in 2007 who played over 1,200 career regular season games and scored over 400 goals.
The most accomplished defenseman picked in the 2007 draft in the first round, P.K. Subban goes third overall to the Phoenix Coyotes in this reimagining of this class two decades later. Subban was a three-time NHL All-Star selection and he is the leader in goals scored among defensemen in the 2007 draft class.
Even though he never won a Stanley Cup, Subban went on to develop into one of the best offensive defensemen of his generation in the NHL.
The Coyotes originally picked center Kyle Turris third overall in the 2007 draft in the first round. Turris was one of just two centers picked in the 2007 draft lottery who played under 800 career regular season games in the NHL.
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