Washington Capitals: Top 10 Draft Busts Of All-Time
Washington Capitals Draft Busts: Jeff Greenlaw
The Washington Capitals held the 19th overall pick in the 1986 NHL draft. With that pick, they selected left wing Jeff Greenlaw. He only played in 57 NHL games, 53 of them with the Caps. He only scored three career goals and had eight career points to go along with 106 penalty minutes. Clearly a bust.
The 1986 NHL Draft wasn’t that great after the 19th overall pick (there were only 21 picks per round back then), but the Capitals could have feasibly drafted any of these players who went on to have much more successful NHL careers than Greenlaw.
- Defenseman Kerry Huffman, drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers with the 20th pick. He had 145 points in 401 games with 37 goals.
- Left wing Adam Graves, drafted by the Detroit Red Wings with the 22nd pick. That was the first pick of the second round. Graves went on to have a solid 16 season NHL career, playing for the Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, the Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks. He had 616 points in 1,152 NHL games with 329 goals. Would have certainly helped the Washington Capitals win a few more games in the 1990’s.
- The (old!) Winnipeg Jets selected defenseman Teppo Numminen with the 29th overall pick. Numminen would have fit right in with the Washington Capitals. 6’2″ tall, he scored 637 points in 1372 NHL games during an impressive 20 season NHL career.
Next: Number Nine: Joe Finley