With Nail Yakupov‘s assist in tonight’s Oilers-Hurricanes game, he became the second player from the 2012 NHL entry draft to reach the 100-point plateau.
Out of curiosity, we circled back around to that draft to see who’s at the top of the scoring list.
Here are the top five scorers from the 2012 draft.
Coming in just ahead of Tomas “four-score” Hertl is Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly. The fifth-overall pick from the WHL has a line of 13-56-69 through 176 games played in the NHL.
This is by far the best of those 13 goals:
Many will remember this candid reaction from Rielly’s father at the moment he was drafted by the Leafs:
Just one point ahead of Rielly is Anaheim Ducks defenceman Hampus Lindholm. His line of 15-55-70 in 177 games is as close as identical to Rielly as you can get, and he was taken one spot below at sixth overall.
Here’s a look at his first NHL goal from November of 2013:
Ho hum, another supremely talented Swedish defenceman. They’re so common today that IKEA has a make-your-own kit readily available at a superstore near you.
Third on the list is Forsberg who you might recall was stolen by the Nashville Predators at the 2013 trade deadline from the Washington Capitals in exchange for — ahem — Martin Erat. Forsberg is 29-51-80 in 120 games and was the 11th overall pick in 2012. Erat, meanwhile, scored 13 goals in the remaining 158 games of his NHL career with the Capitals and Coyotes.
Here’s Forsberg doing the Forsberg:
2. Nail Yakupov
The aforementioned Nail Yakupov, who went down with an injury Wednesday (our bad?), was the first-overall pick in 2012 and has had his share of ups and downs (mostly downs). It was thrilling to see him on a line with Connor McDavid this season as his water-bug style seemed to have finally found a match with another first-overall pick.
Isn’t that always the way? Just add McWater.
The third-overall pick of the 2012 draft is number one in scoring (117) and games played (215) from that group.
Born in the USA, Galchenyuk recorded his first 20-goal season last year and has rounded out into a very useful forward for a Cup-contending Montreal Canadiens.
Here he is being useful in the 2015 NHL playoffs:
Other Notables:
At number six, seven, and eight are Tomas Hertl, Jacob Trouba, and Zemgus Girgensons with 65, 54, and 54 points respectively.
Second-overall pick Ryan Murray has struggled to put things together for the Columbus Blue Jackets, playing in just 100 games and scoring 34 points. Fourth-overall pick Griffin Reinhart has just one assist in 19 games played for the New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers.