Original Top 5:

Elias Petterson (VAN)

Miro Heiskanen (NSH)

Nico Hischier (CBJ)

Martin Necas (ANA)

Nolan Patrick (NSH).

The rich get richer with Nashville drafting 2 studs in the top 5, however both have been packaged out for top tier players including PLD from Detroit most recently. With that being said, the two studs of the draft to date are Nico Hischier and Elias Pettersson who lead the draft class with 257 and 247 points respectively. Each of the top 7 players from this draft have more than 120 pro points in the 5 years since they have been drafted and have proved to be franchise type players for their clubs. Only Pettersson, Hischier and Necas remain with their original team since being drafted. 

Re-draft today? If we were to look back at the picks today, it might shake out something like this.

VAN - Pettersson - No doubt Graham sticks with Elias here, was his main target from the get go and has produced well in his 5 seasons in the pros.

NSH - Heiskanen - Seeing as he is no longer a Pred, at the time Adam probably sees him as a future Cowan (except for the fact that future Cowan turned into a HoF type D). 

CBJ - Hischier - Kickstarter to the rebuild, without him I probably am picking top 10 for a lot of years.

ANA - Makar - Maybe Necas is the guy, but drafting Makar saves the Ducks from acquiring Larsen and currently have other C studs in the pipeline.

NSH - Patrick - Turned into a stud buried on the high scoring farm in NSH for a long time, probably excels beyond this if he in the pros and becomes a regular player for alot of teams not named Preds.

NYI - Brannstrom (Original Pick Makar) - Went D then and would go D again. Has not turned into the stud he was expected but been a solid player who was trapped in a deep NSH farm pool for a couple seasons. In NYI things probably escalate faster for him.

COL - Necas (Original Pick Mittelstadt) - Similar skill set to Mittelstadt but a true C. Saves COL from acquiring and giving up additional assets for Bennett years later.

NSH - Foote (Original Pick Brannstrom) - A late round stud that has turned into a potential number 1 D, also a NSH pick back then and Brannstrom not falling here leaves this as the no brainer for the Preds.

WSH - Mittelstadt (Original Pick "Toivanen" the player who never was) - A W stud to play with Tavares all those years and who knows what Washington could have produced in that time, he slips a bit here to Mo's delight.

BOS - Chytil (Same as original pick) - While things change, they stay the same. Chytil has been a light on a bad team for a few years, 148 points in 225 games and potential number 1 C still has Bruins fans hopeful, especially considering they own the #1 pick in the upcoming draft.

Its easy to see the big winners of this draft was Nashville, turning around and winning cups and presidents trophies in that time with and without these studs. 

From a personal perspective, this was a draft that led to the Jackets turnaround after *many* years of mediocrity and terrible teams. Hischier has been the number 1 guy for me for years and I expect him to be in the Jackets record books in no time.

Goodluck to all the teams with picks, as you can see the right picks can lead to cups and awards.