2009: Philippe Paradis ( C ) 27th Overall 0 GP 0 G 0 A 0 PIM
This pick can be filed under “What on earth were they thinking?” It is easy to go revisionist for this pick knowing that he never made the NHL; but even at the time, it was a puzzling selection. Paradis was never even a very good player in the QMJHL. He never averaged over a point per game in any of his seasons in Jr. Hockey; something I think would be important for using a first-round draft selection. Thankfully, the ‘Canes management seemed to realize their error in judgment very quickly and traded Paradis to Toronto for Jiří Tlustý just 6 months later. Also a first-round bust, Tlustý did enjoy his best seasons as a pro with the Hurricanes and was part of one of the best lines in the NHL during the lockout-shortened 2012-2013 season (Tlustý, Eric Staal and Alex Semin were amazing together that season). With all that being said, being able to flip this pick for a few serviceable seasons from Tlustý can be seen as a win, but the act of selecting a player who would never play in the NHL is not good drafting. Being a late first-round pick, there were no impact players taken in the first round after Paradis. Ryan O’Reilly going 6 picks later in the 2nd round makes me a little sick.