2008 NHL Draft Lookback: The Year of the Franchise Defenseman

[northernrinkrat]

2008 is pretty much considered one of the best drafts for defensemen in NHL history. With three annual Norris contenders and a bunch more developing, the question is, who would you want on your team?

http://thehockeywriters.com/2008-nhl...se-defenseman/

[Dobber]

I'd prefer Karlsson, but that's the fantasy guy in me. DD and AP make strong cases. I still believe in Carlson down the road, and Josi is another good one from that draft. Myers as you say...Schultz, Brodie, Spurgeon, Demers, Voynov, Hamonic...such a good draft for D

Colten Teubert's gotta be embarrased

[northernrinkrat]

I dont know whats more impressive, the sheer amount of solid defensemen who came from the draft or the lack of busts. The only first round defensive flops were Teubert (who is now playing in Germany I guess) and Tyler Cuma who has pretty much become an AHL lifer. It's insane.

And for the record, I'd grab Doughty. Before the Olympics I would have said Pietrangelo, but Doughty has been dominant this year. Im really pulling for him to get the Norris.

[27Blue]

Schenn is a flop.

EK, AP, and DD are the upper tier... only thing that separates them is preference of style.

[mounD]

If I'm building an NHL hockey team from the ground up, give me Drew Doughty. Pietrangelo was a close second in the "real life value" metric for me, but he's above Doughty on the fantasy pecking order. If I'm building a fantasy hockey team, give me Erik Karlsson. No question.

That was an interesting read from THW. Don't sleep on Jake Gardiner either ...