2003 NHL entry draft

Uncommon card · No. 169414

The 2003 NHL entry draft was the 41st draft for the National Hockey League. It was held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 21 and 22, 2003. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins. This was only the third time a goaltender was selected first overall in the draft, after Michel Plasse in 1968 and Rick DiPietro in 2000. Eric Staal was selected second by the Carolina Hurricanes, and Nathan Horton was the third selection by the Florida Panthers. Many analysts rate this draft as having one of the most talented groups of players, some say even better than the 1979 NHL draft. Every first-round pick went on to play in a regular season NHL game. Among those, two played only a handful of games: Hugh Jessiman (2 games) and Shawn Belle (20). All other first-round picks had much more substantial NHL careers: the third-fewest games was Marc-Antoine Pouliot with 192. Fleury, Staal, Horton, Nikolay Zherdev, and Patrice Bergeron...

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