The NHL has staged a player draft every year since 1963. That's 45 different drafts with 45 different first overall picks. Surprisingly, only 12 of those men have their name on the Stanley Cup. Should Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury lead the Penguins to their third Stanley Cup title, they'll be two the "earliest" former No. 1's to claim the trophy.
In other words, among all former top overall picks, they'll have played the fewest seasons in the league before winning their first championship:
PlayerDraftedFirst StanleyCup WinYearsGuy Lafleur197119721Rejean Houle196919712*-Sidney Crosby200520083Bobby Orr196619704*-Marc-Andre Fleury200320085Garry Monahan196319685Michel Plasse196819735Vincent Lecavalier199820046Bobby Smith197819866Mario Lemieux198419917Denis Potvin197319807Rick Green1976198610Rob Ramage1979198910Mike Modano1988199911*-Theoretical
COMMERCIAL SUCCESS
Check out the NHL's commercial for the final:
Pretty cool.
EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS
Playoff Stuff
Penguins-Red Wings
-Only six members of the Penguins have played in a Stanley Cup final before.
-Adam Hall has nothing but spite for the Red Wings.
-Because all of Pittsburgh's other problems are apparently solved, the mayor and city council are arguing over if the Penguins can hang signs up for the Stanley Cup final.
-Gene Collier says Georges Laraque's contributions shouldn't be overlooked.
-The Penguins may let fans watch Games 1 and 2 in Mellon Arena.
-We'll be holding an online chat today at 12:30 p.m. Click here to join in.
-TSN compared the current Penguins to the 1991-92 squad.
-Andre Savard's name was mentioned again as the next head coach of the Florida Panthers.
-Ryan Malone and Ray Shero had a conference calls. Kukla's Korner has the transcripts.
-Semi-useless statistic of the day: Marc-Andre Fleury hasn't lost a game at Mellon Arena since before Thanksgiving. Granted, he missed all that time due to that ankle injury, but his last loss at home was a 2-1 defeat to the Devils Nov. 21. (Kudos to EN reader Steve Jackson with the heads up.)
-Even if he's not with the team any longer, Greg Malone had a big hand in developing the Penguins.
-James Mirtle breaks down the Penguins and Red Wings in just about every way possible.
-The Detroit News has a Penguins quiz.
-Faceoff-Factor delivered a pretty thorough final preview.
-Faceoff-Factor did a pretty good job of rounding up final predictions from various media outlets.
-Johan Franzen isn't expected to play in Game 1.
-Why are the Red Wings so good?
-Chris Osgood isn't getting any respect.
-Scotty Bowman says the Penguins are a lot like the Red Wings.
-Can Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg match up with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin?
-Why did the NHL decide to schedule the Stanley Cup final games the same night the Detroit Pistons are playing?
-For you Canadian readers, Bob Cole and Greg Millen will have the call for the Stanley Cup final on CBC.
-The officials for the Stanley Cup final were announced.
-Double-check your spelling when you get your Penguins jersey personalized.
-We did a podcast with Eddy Spaghetti. Click here to listen.
AHL
-John Curry made 22 saves for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 2-1 loss at Portland. Portland leads the series, 3-2.
-Former Penguins forward Stephen Dixon scored both of Portland's goals.
-Alain Nasreddine played in his 50th career playoff game for the Penguins.
Non-Playoff Stuff
Adams Division
-We're a little late with this but the NHLPA may re-open the CBA early.
First Published: May 22, 2008, 9:00 a.m.
