10 years later, 2015 NHL Draft class tracking to be greatest of all time
The class was always going to be special. We knew it years out. The 2015 NHL Draft was the Connor McDavid Year. He was the third major junior player ever to earn exceptional status, he played his minor hockey in the Toronto area, and his generational gifts were well known in scouting circles years out. The 2015 Draft was also the Jack Eichel Year. He was a big, speedy, dominant center rising up through USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, so good so young that he was already playing college hockey before he was drafted, which was rarer at the time. He was talented enough to be a No. 1 overall pick almost any other year.
The McDavid and Eichel factor alone promised that we’d talk about the 2015 Draft for years to come, tracking how they fared with the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres, who chose them with the first two selections. The class also featured a high-profile pick at No. 4 when the Toronto Maple Leafs took a small but dazzlingly gifted Mitch Marner from the OHL’s London Knights. The Boston Bruins were the talk of the floor that year in Sunrise, Fla., too, seemingly reaching even in the moment with their three consecutive first-round picks to take Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk and Zach Senyshyn when Mathew Barzal was sitting right there.
So we knew 2015 would go down as a memorable and pivotal Draft year. But did any of us expect we’d one day call it one of the greatest and deepest classes of all-time?
A decade later, the Class of 2015 already ranks among the top handful of drafts ever, and it has a realistic chance to be No. 1 all-time in the end.
McDavid has been every bit the generational superstar he was expected to be and more. By 28, he’s already a four-time scoring champion, three-time MVP, four-time Ted Lindsay Award winner and Conn Smythe Trophy winner. Only Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux measure up to or exceed what McDavid has accomplished individually as a scorer. Meanwhile, Marner and top-10 pick Mikko Rantanen are strong bets to earn Hall of Fame nods down the road. Eichel is a Stanley Cup champion who corrected his career course after getting his desired trade from the Sabres to the Vegas Golden Knights and having experimental disk replacement surgery on his neck. The Minnesota Wild found a late-round superstar in Kirill Kaprizov. The Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets and Winnipeg Jets secured franchise players in Sebastian Aho, Zach Werenski and Kyle Connor, respectively. Barzal’s 85 points in 2016-17, his Calder Trophy year, tie him for the most by any rookie since 2005-06.
The Class of 2015 gave us so much, from workhorse blueliners Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin to two-way centers Anthony Cirelli, Joel Eriksson Ek and Roope Hintz. How about goal scorers? Brock Boeser and Timo Meier. Clutch goalies? Adin Hill.
How good was 2015? Let’s compare it to the other greatest classes in NHL history, which I broke down as a top five a couple years ago for Daily Faceoff.
1979 was the “unfair” year in which the NHL/WHA merger spit extra players into the pool, leading to an incredible class that included seven Hall of Famers drafted, from Mark Messier to Ray Bourque.
1984 gave us the greatest superstar class ever, with Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille.
2003 was probably the deepest draft in NHL history, not yielding a generational icon but pumping out so many high-end players: Marc-Andre Fleury, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Patrice Bergeron, Shea Weber and at least a dozen more All-Star-caliber contributors.
So how does 2015 measure up? I created a mock scoring system comparing the classes, awarding points for Hall of Famers, 1,000-game players, 500-goal scorers, 1,000-point scorers and major award winners (Hart, Norris, Vezina, Calder, Selke, Art Ross, Richard, Conn Smythe).
No statistical projection was required for 1979 and 1984. For 2003, which was down to four active players this past season, I had to project Hall of Famers. For 2015, I projected everything aside from awards.
| Draft Class | HHOF | 1,000 GP | 500 goals | 1,000 pts | Awards | TOTAL |
| 1979 | 7 | 17 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 48 |
| 1984 | 4 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 24 | 52 |
| 2003 | 6* | 17 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 38 |
| 2015 | 5* | 20* | 5* | 7* | 12 | 49 |
* pro-rated stat
As expected, 1979 scores big on volume because it gave us so many great players, while 1984 arguably produced two of the top 10 NHLers of all-time and thus earns many of its points on individual awards. The Class of 2003 slots comfortably into fourth and should stay there; it was incredibly deep, but it gave us exactly one Hart Trophy winner in Corey Perry and no scoring champ.
As for 2015, it has a real chance to cement itself as the greatest ever, depending on its players’ health and accomplishments in the second halves of their careers. I project the Hall of Famers from this group to be McDavid, Rantanen, Marner, Eichel and Kaprizov, albeit the likes of Aho, Connor and Werenski remain in the hunt. Because the class of 2015 is so deep, it gets extra points for projected 1,000-game players. I didn’t project awards for two reasons: (a) players don’t tend to win as many as they reach their 30s, and (b) I wanted to prove a point: even with no additional projected awards, the 2015 group already tracks to be as strong as 1979’s in my formula. If McDavid finally gets that Cup and another Conn Smythe, or if Cirelli starts winning Selkes, or if Kaprizov puts it all together for a Hart campaign…this class rises even higher.
What was particularly fascinating about the Class of 2015: the talent was there, but so much of it was found outside the first round, where there were plenty of whiffs. In my retroactive first-round redraft, 13 of 30 picks were not actual first-rounders. It’s a reminder that, while 2015 has all-time great star power at the top, its depth separates it, too. It’s like 1984 and 2003 combined.
2015 ROUND 1 RE-DRAFT
(Actual pick in brackets)
1. Edmonton: Connor McDavid, C (Edm, 1st)
2. Buffalo: Mikko Rantanen, RW (Col, 10th)
3. Arizona: Mitch Marner, RW (Tor, 4th)
4. Toronto: Jack Eichel, C (Buf, 2nd)
5. Carolina: Kirill Kaprizov, RW (Min, 135th)
6. New Jersey: Sebastian Aho, C (Car, 35th)
7. Philadelphia: Kyle Connor, LW (Wpg, 17th)
8. Columbus: Zach Werenski, D (CBJ, 8th)
9. San Jose: Roope Hintz, C (Dal, 49th)
10. Colorado: Anthony Cirelli, C (TB, 72nd)
11. Florida: Mathew Barzal, C (NYI, 16th)
12. Dallas: Travis Konecny, RW (Phi, 24th)
13. Boston: Timo Meier, RW (SJ, 9th)
14. Boston: Noah Hanifin, D (Car, 5th)
15. Boston: Brock Boeser, RW (Van, 23rd)
16. Ny Islanders: Joel Eriksson Ek, C (Min, 20th)
17. Winnipeg: Rasmus Andersson, D (Cgy, 53rd)
18. Ottawa: Thomas Chabot, D (Ott, 18th)
19. Detroit: Dylan Strome, C (Ari, 3rd)
20. Minnesota: Vince Dunn, D (Stl, 56th)
21. Ottawa: Ivan Provorov, D (Phi, 7th)
22. Washington: Pavel Zacha, C (NJ, 6th)
23. Vancouver: Vladislav Gavrikov, D (CBJ, 159th)
24. Philadelphia: Adin Hill, G (Ari, 76th)
25. Winnipeg: Matt Roy, D (LA, 194th)
26. Montreal: Troy Terry, RW (Ana, 148th)
27. Anaheim: Jake DeBrusk, LW (Bos, 14th)
28. NY Islanders: Brandon Carlo, D (Bos, 37th)
29. Columbus: Erik Cernak, D (LA, 43rd)
30. Arizona: Mackenzie Blackwood, G (NJ, 42nd)
Just missed: Alexandre Carrier, Conor Garland, Niko Mikkola, Anthony Beauvillier, Sam Montembeault, Jonas Siegenthaler, Karel Vejmelka
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Tune in for The Sheet Draft Special, streaming live on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel on Friday, June 27th at 7 PM EST. Hosted by Jeff Marek, this live special will cover all the action from the 2025 Draft, including expert analysis of top prospects, team-by-team breakdowns, and real-time reactions to every pick. Whether you’re tracking your team’s future stars or just love the drama of draft night, this is your go-to destination for all things Draft.
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