Rosie's Rebounds: Hall vs. Seguin

With the first pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, the Edmonton Oilers select…

Okay, we won’t know quite yet whom the Oilers will select with the first pick, but we do know that it will either be Taylor Hall (Windsor Spitfires) or Tyler Seguin (Plymouth Whalers) from the Ontario Hockey League. So why can’t the speculation begin now?

This should be the most intriguing choice since 1987 (from a Canadian Hockey perspective) when the Buffalo Sabres took Pierre Turgeon of the Granby Bisons of the QMJHL as the No. 1 overall pick over Brendan Shanahan (London Knights, OHL), who was picked second by the New Jersey Devils.

Both players went on to have a long and successful career. Turgeon scored 515 goals and tallied 1327 points in his 19-year NHL career with the Sabres, Islanders, Canadiens, Blues, Stars and Avalanche, while Shanahan scored 656 goals and gathered 1,354 points in his 21 seasons with the Devils, Blues, Red Wings, Rangers and the old Hartford Whalers.

The major difference between the two, however, is the playoff success. Turgeon never made an appearance in the Stanley Cup during his career and only played in the conference finals once in 2001 with the Blues (he could have played in two conference finals if it wasn’t for Dale Hunter’s cheap shot in 1993 in the Patrick Division Finals, see video below). Meanwhile, Shanahan won three Cups with the Red Wings.