4. Patrik Elias
1994 NHL Draft
This is another example of two players at the very top of the draft who dominate everyone else. What’s different between this draft and the 2021 NHL Draft is both of these players were taken after the first round. Patrik Elias was selected 51st overall by the New Jersey Devils, and Daniel Alfredsson was selected 133rd by the Ottawa Senators. There were also some great goalies taken in this draft (Tomas Vokoun, Evgeni Nabokov, Jose Theodore, and Tim Thomas), but Elias and Alfredsson are the clear 1-2.
Of course, we’re going to give the nod to Elias. He did more in the playoffs, which makes up for the higher regular-season point total Alfredsson holds. Elias has 125 postseason points in his career, and he was on two Stanley Cup winners, including one where he held the primary assist on Jason Arnott’s Stanley Cup-winning goal.
One might argue that Alfredsson was more important to the Senators than Elias was to the Devils, but that’s semantics and opinion. We understand Alfredsson’s importance to Ottawa and to the league, but Elias deserves his same due. The Devils were an underrated offensive force in the early 2000s, and Elias was by far its best player.
Honestly, Alfredsson and Elias are so close to mirror images of each other that nobody should be upset if one or the other is at the top of the list. They are both Selke-level defensive forwards who could score at will.