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It's a Euro-heavy top of the class at the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, according to fictional GM Ardal Ekrub's Project-a-Tron objective drafting system, which to our modern eyes bears a remarkable similarity to the Projectinator, often discussed at this site. Six of the top-10 best draft prospects are European, however three of these (Pavel Brendl, Patrik Stefan, and Oleg Saprykin) already play in the North America. The Sedin twins are appropriately ranked consecutively at numbers four and five, though in reverse order of how they would be drafted by Vancouver. The other teams do an unusually good job at selecting the top prospects identified by the Project-a-Tron, as five of the top seven are taken in the first five picks.
Top 30 Players Available at 1999 Entry Draft
Rank Player Pos League PGVT+ Drafted
1 Brendl, Pavel F WHL 20.3 4
2 Stefan, Patrik F IHL 13.7 1
3 Comrie, Mike F CCHA 13.1 91
4 Sedin, Henrik F Swe 12.4 3
5 Sedin, Daniel F Swe 11.4 2
6 Murley, Matt F ECAC 10.8 51
7 Connolly, Tim F OHL 9.5 5
8 Saprykin, Oleg F WHL 9.0 11
9 Zion, Jonathan D OHL 8.8 110
10 Cereda, Luca F Sui 8.8 24
11 Zigomanis, Mike F OHL 8.4 64
12 Haydar, Darren F HE 8.4 248
13 Jillson, Jeff D CCHA 8.3 14
14 Connolly, Sean D CCHA 8.2 -
15 Finley, Brian G OHL 8.2 6
16 Ouellet, Maxime G QMJHL 8.1 22
17 McCarthy, Steve D WHL 8.0 23
18 Auld, Alex G OHL 7.6 40
19 Kelman, Scott F WHL 7.3 15
20 Block, Brady G WHL 7.0 -
21 Lysak, Brett F WHL 6.8 49
22 Lundmark, Jamie F WHL 6.7 9
23 Weinhandl, Mattias F Swe 6.7 78
24 Beech, Kris F WHL 6.6 7
25 Rita, Jani F Fin 6.6 13
26 Havlat, Martin F Cze 6.6 26
27 Rybin, Maxim F Rus 6.5 141
28 Zetterberg, Henrik F Swe 6.4 210
29 Lajeunesse, Simon G QMJHL 6.3 48
30 Thinel, Marc-Andre F QMJHL 6.1 145
The third-best prospect, Mike Comrie, is available for the Saskatoon Westerns braintrust to select with the 27th pick of the draft. And who's that player Ekrub claims in the fifth round? Henrik Zetterberg? I wonder if he'll turn out to be much of a player. One can only assume the Red Wings were able to draft Zetterberg so late in the real world is that they were the only team really scouting him. That's one advantage an objective ranking system has—you don't need eyes on the player to be able to determine a ranking. Can you really scout every first division team in Europe? It's difficult enough to scout every elite-level team as it is.
Saskatoon Westerns 1999 Draft Picks
Pick Player Pos League PGVT+
27 Comrie, Mike C CCHA 13.1
65 Zion, Jonathan D OHL 8.8
76 Haydar, Darren RW HE 8.4
95 Connolly, Sean D CCHA 8.2
104 Block, Brady G WHL 7.0
125 Rybin, Maxim LW Rus 6.5
155 Zetterberg, Henrik LW Swe 6.4
185 Bergeron, Remi G QMJHL 5.9
214 Smith, Kenton D WHL 5.7
242 Balastik, Jaroslav LW Cze 5.6
271 MacDonald, Joey G QMJHL 4.9
Having a good group of young defensemen making their way toward everyday jobs in the NHL, Ekrub is not too distressed to lose Alexei Zhitnik, who to date has not been adequate without the puck, in the Expansion Draft. Ekrub also trades Frantisek Kaberle and Bill Bowler to Los Angeles for their third round (76th overall) and fourth round (104th overall) picks.
Vyacheslav Kozlov is not re-signed, and he goes to Detroit as a free agent. Kozlov is at an age that decline in performance often sets in, while contract dollars generally go up. As good as Kozlov has been for the team, Ekrub needs the roster spot for his young forwards. The GM releases Derek Wilkinson, Dustin Whitecotton, Aaron Keller, Jani Hassinen, Tomas Blazek, Martin Gendron, Chris Snell, and Ryan Smith to finalize his Reserve List for the season.
Saskatoon Westerns 1999-2000 Reserve List
Pos Name Age Acquired
G Bergeron, Remi 18 Draft, 1999 (185)
G Biron, Martin (k) 22 Draft, 1995 (15)
G Block, Brady 18 Draft, 1999 (104)
G Brind'Amour, Frederik (k)19 Draft, 1998 (133)
G Garon, Mathieu (k) 21 Draft, 1996 (36)
G Henry, Frederic (k) 22 Draft, 1995 (162)
G MacDonald, Joey 18 Draft, 1999 (271)
G Theodore, Jose (k) 23 Draft, 1994 (26)
D Boyle, Dan (k) 23 Draft, 1995 (216)
D Campbell, Brian (k) 20 Draft, 1997 (130)
D Clark, Brett (k) 22 Draft, 1996 (77)
D Connolly, Sean 19 Draft, 1999 (95)
D Corvo, Joe (k) 22 Draft, 1996 (49)
D DuPont, Micki (k) 19 Draft, 1998 (245)
D Ference, Andrew (k) 20 Draft, 1997 (102)
D Guren, Miloslav (k) 22 Draft, 1995 (52)
D Julien, Stephane (k) 25 Draft, 1992 (239)
D Kinch, Matt (k) 19 Draft, 1998 (161)
D Markov, Andrei 20 Draft, 1997 (213)
D Mitchell, Kevin (k) 19 Draft, 1998 (106)
D Musial, David 23 Draft, 1995 (56)
D Numminen, Teppo (k) 31 Draft, 1986 (15)
D Salo, Sami (k) 25 Draft, 1993 (51)
D Smith, Kenton 18 Draft, 1999 (214)
D Van Impe, Darren (k) 26 Draft, 1991 (104)
D Zidlicky, Marek (k) 22 Draft, 1995 (108)
D Zion, Jonathan 18 Draft, 1999 (65)
D Zubov, Sergei (k) 28 Draft, 1990 (81)
C Briere, Daniel (k) 21 Draft, 1996 (23)
C Brylin, Sergei (k) 25 Draft, 1992 (30)
C Comrie, Mike 19 Draft, 1999 (27)
C Kapanen, Niko (k) 21 Draft, 1997 (119)
C Kosick, Mark 20 Draft, 1998 (43)
C Lapointe, Claude (k) 30 Draft, 1988 (229)
C Lyashenko, Roman (k) 20 Draft, 1997 (14)
C Malov, Roman 21 Draft, 1996 (186)
C Marchant, Todd (k) 26 Draft, 1992 (215)
C McLean, Brett (k) 21 Draft, 1996 (159)
C Nieuwendyk, Joe (k) 33 Draft, 1985 (9)
C Norris, Warren (k) 24 Draft, 1994 (104)
C Perreault, Yanic (k) 28 Draft, 1990 (102)
C Perrin, Eric (k) 24 Draft, 1994 (78)
C Peterson, Toby 20 Draft, 1998 (78)
C Ribeiro, Mike (k) 19 Draft, 1998 (26)
C Richards, Brad (k) 19 Draft, 1998 (31)
C Robinson, Todd (k) 21 Draft, 1996 (105)
C Savard, Marc (k) 22 Draft, 1995 (27)
C York, Mike (k) 21 Draft, 1997 (22)
LW Balastik, Jaroslav 19 Draft, 1999 (242)
LW Bicek, Jiri 20 Draft, 1997 (76)
LW Butsayev, Yuri 20 Draft, 1997 (49)
LW Demitra, Pavol (k) 25 Draft, 1993 (77)
LW Hossa, Marian (k) 20 Draft, 1997 (12)
LW Kallio, Tommi (k) 22 Draft, 1995 (72)
LW Kariya, Steve (k) 21 Draft, 1997 (186)
LW Kratena, Ondrej 22 Draft, 1996 (132)
LW Miettinen, Tommi (k) 23 Draft, 1994 (182)
LW Mikahilov, Egor 21 Draft, 1996 (212)
LW Recchi, Mark (k) 31 Draft, 1987 (142)
LW Rybin, Maxim 18 Draft, 1999 (125)
LW Sejna, Peter 19 Draft, 1998 (190)
LW Whitney, Ray (k) 27 Draft, 1991 (21)
LW Zetterberg, Henrik 18 Draft, 1999 (155)
RW Bednar, Jaroslav 22 Draft, 1995 (80)
RW DeCecco, Bret (k) 19 Draft, 1998 (42)
RW Fleury, Theoren (k) 31 Draft, 1986 (204)
RW Gionta, Brian 20 Draft, 1998 (74)
RW Haydar, Darren 19 Draft, 1999 (76)
RW Lehtinen, Jere (k) 26 Draft, 1991 (131)
RW St. Louis, Martin (k) 24 Draft, 1994 (52)
RW Sidyakin, Andrei 20 Draft, 1997 (157)
RW Tuomainen, Marko (k) 27 Draft, 1991 (175)
RW Varvio, Jarkko (k) 27 Draft, 1991 (153)
RW Vasiljevs, Herbert (k) 23 Draft, 1995 (189)
RW Zalesak, Miroslav 19 Draft, 1998 (53)
Players on Reserve List (Maximum 80): 75
Players Under Contract (Maximum 50): 50
Injuries to Jere Lehtinen, Sami Salo, Joe Nieuwendyk, and Yanic Perreault try their best to slow down the Westerns during the 1999-2000 season, but Saskatoon still manages to finish second in their division, and second in the NHL. Ekrub notes that his roster is aging now, and this will have to be addressed in the near future, before too many players get too old.
Saskatoon Westerns 1999-2000 NHL Season Results
GP W L T GF GA Pts Finish
82 46 26 10 268 218 106 2nd place, Central; 2nd overall
Player No. Age Pos GP OGVT DGVT GVT
Recchi, Mark (A) 8 31 RW 82 16.8 5.5 22.3
Demitra, Pavol 38 25 LW 71 13.2 4.4 17.6
Whitney, Ray 13 27 LW 81 13.0 2.0 15.0
Numminen, Teppo (A) 27 31 D 79 6.4 6.5 12.9
Theodore, Jose 33 23 G 34 0.0 12.2 12.2
Biron, Martin 43 22 G 43 0.0 10.8 10.8
Zubov, Sergei 46 28 D 77 4.5 5.9 10.4
Perreault, Yanic 49 28 C 58 9.0 1.1 10.1
Fleury, Theoren 14 31 RW 80 7.1 2.8 9.9
Marchant, Todd 39 26 C 82 4.4 5.2 9.6
Salo, Sami 5 25 D 37 2.6 3.3 5.9
Nieuwendyk, Joe (C) 25 33 C 48 4.2 0.8 5.0
Zidlicky, Marek 3 22 D 65 1.5 3.3 4.8
St. Louis, Martin 15 24 RW 73 2.7 2.1 4.8
Clark, Brett 2 22 D 77 1.2 2.6 3.8
Hossa, Marian 22 20 LW 45 2.8 0.9 3.7
Savard, Marc 9 22 C 58 2.6 1.1 3.7
Van Impe, Darren 48 26 D 79 2.2 0.6 2.8
Kariya, Steve 12 21 LW 30 1.4 1.3 2.7
Brylin, Sergei 47 25 LW 64 0.6 2.1 2.7
York, Mike 16 21 C 16 1.9 0.1 2.0
Lapointe, Claude 17 30 C 76 1.6 0.3 1.9
Lehtinen, Jere 20 26 RW 17 0.6 1.0 1.6
Briere, Daniel 18 21 RW 35 0.8 0.4 1.2
Boyle, Dan 21 23 D 26 0.9 0.2 1.1
Perrin, Eric 10 24 LW 21 0.9 0.1 1.0
Campbell, Brian 44 20 D 12 0.6 0.0 0.6
Corvo, Joe 7 22 D 16 0.1 0.4 0.5
Kapanen, Niko 29 21 C 6 0.2 0.1 0.3
Guren, Miloslav 19 22 D 24 -0.3 0.5 0.2
Tuomainen, Marko 45 27 RW 31 0.1 0.1 0.2
Varvio, Jarkko 11 27 RW 3 0.0 0.0 0.0
Vasiljevs, Herbert 37 23 RW 7 -0.3 -0.1 -0.4
Garon, Mathieu 32 21 G 5 0.0 -0.5 -0.5
Total 82 103.3 77.1 180.4
For the second consecutive season, the Westerns are the league's best team at winning faceoffs, taking 55.4% of their draws, a full two percentage points ahead of second-best Detroit. Saskatoon would surely have been further ahead, had they not missed Yanic Perreault and Joe Nieuwendyk for so many games to injury, as these players were numbers one and two in faceoff winning percentage, respectively. It still remains to be seen whether this success at taking draws will be persistent into the future for the team, or if it's merely a coincidence that objective drafting resulted in selecting players like these two, who by themselves have a huge influence on the team's faceoff numbers.
Saskatoon Westerns 1999-00 Faceoff Stats
Player Pos GP FO FOW FOL FO%
Perreault, Yanic C 58 987 610 377 61.8
Nieuwendyk, Joe C 48 924 546 378 59.1
Marchant, Todd C 82 1195 632 563 52.9
Lapointe, Claude C 76 1156 624 532 54.0
Fleury, Theoren RW 80 490 277 213 56.5
Savard, Marc C 58 176 87 89 49.4
York, Mike C 16 111 53 58 47.7
Brylin, Sergei LW 64 72 30 42 41.7
Recchi, Mark RW 82 88 44 44 50.0
Demitra, Pavol LW 71 20 8 12 40.0
Briere, Daniel RW 35 58 28 30 48.3
Whitney, Ray LW 81 66 32 34 48.5
Vasiljevs, Herbert RW 7 13 6 7 46.2
Kapanen, Niko C 6 12 3 9 25.0
Tuomainen, Marko RW 31 4 1 3 25.0
St. Louis, Martin RW 73 4 0 4 0.0
Hossa, Marian LW 45 4 2 2 50.0
Kariya, Steve LW 30 2 1 1 50.0
Total 82 5382 2984 2398 55.4
Playoffs, First Round
The Los Angeles Kings push the Westerns to the limit in the first round of the playoffs, but the Canadian club takes a one-goal victory in Game 7 to advance (2-3, 4-6, 2-1, 4-2, 1-2, 5-2, 2-1).
Playoffs, Second Round
The Westerns, who were second overall in the regular season, have the misfortune of meeting the team that finished first overall, in just the second round. Due to division winners being ranked artificially high, Saskatoon (who were second in their division) has to face Detroit, and takes them to six games but falls to the Red Wings 3-6, 3-4, 0-2, 3-0, 5-1, 1-2.
Saskatoon Westerns Season Results Through 1999-00
Season GP W L T GF GA Pts Pct
1983-84 80 32 39 9 314 324 73 .456
1984-85 80 34 36 10 311 313 78 .488
1985-86 80 40 32 8 321 309 88 .550
1986-87 80 40 32 8 328 297 88 .550
1987-88 80 41 31 8 345 307 90 .563
1988-89 80 45 26 9 365 297 99 .619
1989-90 80 45 27 8 344 277 98 .613
1990-91 80 47 23 10 341 257 104 .650
1991-92 80 45 25 10 339 269 100 .625
1992-93 84 53 23 8 382 268 115 .685
1993-94 84 53 21 10 360 253 116 .690
1994-95 48 34 9 5 185 124 71 .740
1995-96 82 47 26 9 315 250 103 .628
1996-97 82 42 29 11 268 229 95 .579
1997-98 82 51 19 12 278 196 114 .695
1998-99 82 47 23 12 277 205 106 .646
1999-00 82 46 26 10 268 218 106 .622
Total 1264 700 418 146 5073 3874 1549 .612
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Player Power Rankings (03/28)
2 comments have been left for this article. 
Don't worry about Sami Salo's injury, I'm sure he'll be fine from here on out.