Tom Awad on Sakic and Sundin

Tom Awad has a nice post on the Sakic and Sundin legacies.  Unlike Tom, I was watching the 1989 draft...My memory could be failing, but the consensus was that Sundin and Bobby Holik should go #1 and #2, but Sundin needed to finish his military service and Holik might never show up in North America.  Also, Jason Herter was projected to be a huge star.  Twenty years later, it feels like another lifetime: 15 of 21 first round picks came from Canadian Tier I junior, and picking a European player seemed like a huge risk.

Interestingly, Sundin never led the NHL in any category of consequence in any season, and Sakic tied for the lead in +/- once and tied for the lead in short-handed goals once.  Of course, neither did Mark Messier.