The 2001 NHL Draft

The 2001 NHL Draft was held on June 23, 2001 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The draft saw the New York Islanders select Rick DiPietro first overall. Other notable picks included Jason Spezza (2nd overall, Ottawa Senators), Ales Hemsky (13th overall, Edmonton Oilers) and Henrik Zetterberg (210th overall, Detroit Red Wings).

The 2001 NHL Draft – Top Picks

The 2001 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 23, 2001, at the Pepsi Arena in Buffalo, New York.

With the first overall pick, the Atlanta Thrashers selected Igor Larionov’s nephew, Ilya Kovalchuk from Tolyatti, Russia.

Kovalchuk had been the second overall pick in the 2000 CHL Import Draft by the Quebec Major Junior hockey League’s Rimouski Océanic.

In his NHL Rookie season of 2001–02, he scored 29 goals and 51 points over 65 games, which was second among all NHL Rookies behind only Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators.

The 2001 NHL Draft – Notable Picks

The 2001 NHL Draft was held on June 23, 2001, at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida. A total of 217 players from around the world were drafted.

In the first round, the Washington Capitals selected goaltender Rick DiPietro with the first overall pick. DiPietro went on to have a successful NHL career appearing in 448 games over 12 seasons with the Islanders and Panthers.

Other notable picks from the 2001 NHL Draft included future All-Stars Scott Gomez (27th overall, New Jersey Devils), Jason Pominville (55th overall, Buffalo Sabres), and Ales Hemsky (13th overall, Edmonton Oilers).

The 2001 NHL Draft – First Round Selections

The 2001 NHL Draft was held on June 23, 2001 at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida. A total of 217 players were drafted.

In the first round, the Atlanta Thrashers selected goaltender Kari Lehtonen with the second overall pick. Other notable first round selections included Ilya Kovalchuk (first overall, Atlanta Thrashers), Jason Spezza (second overall, Ottawa Senators), and Marc-Andre Fleury (first overall, Pittsburgh Penguins).

The 2001 NHL Draft – Second Round Selections

1. Jason Spezza, C, Ottawa Senators
2. Mikko Koivu, C, Minnesota Wild
3. Henrik Tallinder, D, Buffalo Sabres
4. Scott Hartnell, LW, Nashville Predators
5. Dan Hamhuis, D, Nashville Predators
6. Jiri Hudler, C, Detroit Red Wings
7. Ales Hemsky, RW, Edmonton Oilers
8. Dmitri Kazionov, LW, Tampa Bay Lightning
9. Martin Erat, RW, Nashville Predators
10. Anton Volchenkov, D, Ottawa Senators

The 2001 NHL Draft – Third Round Selections

The 2001 NHL Draft was held on June 23 and 24, 2001, at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida. A total of 289 players were drafted.

In the third round, with the 81st overall pick, the Tampa Bay Lightning selected Russian forward Alexander Svitov. Svitov played three seasons with the Lightning, scoring 12 goals and adding 11 assists in 138 games. He was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2004 and went on to play six seasons in the NHL.

With the82nd pick, the Los Angeles Kings selected Swedish defenseman Johan Fransson. Fransson played seven games for the Kings, tallying one assist, before being traded to the Nashville Predators in 2007. He has appeared in 36 NHL games since then, split between the Predators and Colorado Avalanche

The New York Rangers used the 83rd selection to draft Finnish goaltender Miika Wiikman. Wiikman never played a game for the Rangers, but he did play four games for their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack He is currently playing in Finland’s Liiga.

The 84th pick belonged to the Chicago Blackhawks who used it to select Slovakian forward Juraj Mikus. Mikus played parts of three seasons with Chicago’s AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2007. He has not appeared in an NHL game since then.

With their final pick of the third round (85th overall), the Nashville Predators selected American defenseman Shea Weber from Milwaukee of the USHL. Weber has become one of Nashville’s top defensemen and was named team captain prior to start of 2010-11 season. In 471 career NHL Games with Nashville, Weber has scoring 104 goals and adding 195 assists for 299 points while amassing 552 penalty minutes

The 2001 NHL draft – Fourth Round Selections

With the 101st pick in the 2001 NHL Draft the Tampa Bay Lightning selected forward Alexander Svitov from Avangard Omsk of the Russian Superleague. Svitov would go on to play parts of six seasons in the NHL, totaling 97 points in 325 games.

With the 102nd pick, the Chicago Blackhawks selected goaltender Michael Leighton from Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Leighton played parts of four seasons in the NHL, posting a record of 26-22-6.

The New York Rangers selected defenseman Daniel Girardi with the 154th pick. Girardi has played his entire NHL career with the Rangers, totaling 379 points in 971 games.

The 2001 NHL Draft – Fifth Round Selections

In the 2001 NHL Draft 211 players were selected over nine rounds. Of those211 players, only 23 have played in at least one NHL game This means that only 11% of fifth round selections go on to play an NHL game In the fifth round of the 2001 NHL Draft the following 23 players were selected:

The 2001 NHL Draft – sixth round Selections

The 2001 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 23–24, 2001, at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida. A total of 217 players were drafted. This is the list of those players selected in the sixth round.

pick team player nationality
157 Calgary Flames Kurtis Foster United States
158 St. Louis Blues Steve Regier Canada
159 Tampa Bay Lightning Adam Henrich Canada
160 Chicago Blackhawks Derek Bekar Canada

The 2001 NHL Draft – Seventh Round Selections

The seventh round of the 2001 NHL Draft saw 210 players being selected. This was the final round of the draft, with most of the selected players never making it to the NHL level. Among those who did make it, there were some notable late-round picks including Henrik Sedin (2nd last pick in the draft), Pavol Demitra (10th last), and Tomas Plekanec (11th last).

Other notable seventh-round selections included Manny Malhotra (7th overall), Dan Lacosta (15th overall), Scott Gomez (27th overall), and Jason Pominville (55th overall).

The 2001 NHL Draft – Eighth Round Selections

The eighth round of the 2001 NHL draft saw a total of 21 players drafted. As is typical with most drafts, there were a few players who went on to have successful careers in the NHL, but the majority of them never made it to the Big League

Some of the more notable eighth Round Draft picks from 2001 include Tuomo Ruutu (New Jersey Devils), Ray Whitney (Detroit Red Wings), Jason LaBarbera (Los Angeles Kings), and Dan Cleary (Chicago Blackhawks).

Interestingly, two goalies were taken in the eighth round of the 2001 NHL Draft – Jean-Francois Damphousse (Montreal Canadiens) and Antero Niittymaki (Philadelphia Flyers). Neither goalie had much success at the NHL level, but they both did see some action in the NHL.