A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| 2003 NHL Entry Draft | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Date(s) | June 21–22, 2003 |
| Location | Gaylord Entertainment Center Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Overview | |
| First selection |  Marc-Andre Fleury(Pittsburgh Penguins) |
The 2003 NHL Entry Draft was the 41st NHL Entry Draft. 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.[1][2][3][4][5] 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 all became NHL regulars immediately after they were drafted. Milan Michalek was expected to do the same, and was selected for the San Jose Sharks' NHL roster after training camp, but suffered a serious knee injury that ruled him out for the season. All of the top ten selections played at least nine games in the NHL in the 2005–06 season. Calgary Flames' first round selection Dion Phaneuf scored 20 goals in his rookie campaign, becoming the third defenceman to do so, after Brian Leetch and Barry Beck. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter (Flyers), Zach Parise (Devils), Ryan Getzlaf (Ducks), and Eric Staal (Hurricanes) all led their teams in scoring in the 2007–08 regular season, and Dustin Brown (Kings) went on to break the record for most Stanley Cups won by an American team captain (two, in 2012 and 2014).
Later rounds of the draft also featured more players than usual that went on to have substantial NHL careers. These included Shea Weber (49th overall pick), Corey Crawford (52nd), David Backes (62nd), Jimmy Howard (64th), Clarke MacArthur (74th), Jan Hejda (106th), Paul Bissonnette (121st), Kyle Quincey (132nd), Lee Stempniak (148th), Nigel Dawes (149th), Marc Methot (168th), Nate Thompson (183rd), Drew Miller (186th), Joe Pavelski (205th), Kyle Brodziak (214th), Tobias Enstrom (239th), Dustin Byfuglien (245th), Shane O'Brien (250th), Matt Moulson (263rd), Jaroslav Halak (271st), David Jones (288th), and Brian Elliott (291st).
As of 2023, the remaining active players in the NHL from this draft are Corey Perry, Brent Burns, Ryan Suter, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jaroslav Halak, Brian Elliott and Eric Staal.
Draft day trades
The following trades were made on the day of the draft:
- The St. Louis Blues traded Cory Stillman to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 62nd pick (David Backes).
- The New Jersey Devils traded Mike Danton and the 101st pick (Konstantin Zakharov) to the St. Louis Blues for the 93rd pick (Ivan Khomutov).
- The Chicago Blackhawks traded Andrei Nikolishin to the Colorado Avalanche for the 120th pick (Mitch Maunu)
- The St. Louis Blues traded Tyson Nash to the Phoenix Coyotes for the 148th pick (Lee Stempniak)
Final central scouting rankings
Skaters
| North American | European | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Staal (C)
|
 Nikolay Zherdev (RW)
|
| 2 |  Dustin Brown (RW)
|
 Milan Michalek (LW)
|
| 3 |  Thomas Vanek (LW)
|
 Andrei Kostitsyn (RW)
|
| 4 | Nathan Horton (C)
|
Dmitri Chernykh (RW)
|
| 5 | Ryan Getzlaf (C)
|
Konstantin Glazachev (LW)
|
| 6 | Braydon Coburn (D)
|
Igor Mirnov (C)
|
| 7 | Ryan Suter (D)
|
Grigory Shafigulin (C)
|
| 8 | Dion Phaneuf (D)
|
Yevgeni Tunik (C)
|
| 9 | Zach Parise (C)
|
 Robert Nilsson (RW)
|
| 10 | Dan Fritsche (C)
|
Michal Barinka (D)
|
Goaltenders
| North American | European | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marc-Andre Fleury
|
Konstantin Barulin
|
| 2 | Jimmy Howard
|
 Teemu Lassila
|
| 3 | Ryan Munce
|
 Patrick Ehelechner
|
Selections by round
| = NHL All-Star team · | = NHL All-Star[6] · | = NHL All-Star[6] and NHL All-Star team · |
Round one
- Florida's first-round pick went to Pittsburgh as the result of a trade on June 21, 2003 that sent Mikael Samuelsson, a first-round pick (# 3 overall) and a second-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft to Florida in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft and this pick.
- Pittsburgh's first-round pick went to Florida as the result of a trade on June 21, 2003 that sent a first-round pick (# 1 overall) and a third-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft to Pittsburgh in exchange for Mikael Samuelsson, a second-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft and this pick.
- Phoenix's first-round pick went to Philadelphia as the result of a trade on July 2, 2001 that sent Daymond Langkow to Phoenix in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft and this pick.
- Boston's first-round pick went to San Jose as the result of a trade on June 21, 2003 that sent a first-round pick (# 21 overall), a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft to Boston in exchange for this pick.
- Edmonton's first-round pick went to New Jersey as the result of a trade on June 21, 2003 that sent a first-round pick (# 22 overall) and a second-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft to Edmonton in exchange for this pick.
- San Jose's acquired first-round pick went to Boston as the result of a trade on June 21, 2003 that sent a first-round pick (# 16 overall) in the 2003 Entry Draft to San Jose in exchange for a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft along with this pick.
- San Jose previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on March 5, 2003 that sent Owen Nolan to Toronto in exchange for Brad Boyes, Alyn McCauley and this pick.
- New Jersey's acquired first-round pick went to Edmonton as the result of a trade on June 21, 2003 that sent a first-round pick (# 17 overall) to New Jersey in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft and this pick.
- New Jersey previously acquired this pick from St. Louis on January 4, 1999 as penalty for Scott Stevens tampering. New Jersey received a choice of a first-round pick between 1999 and 2003 Entry Drafts (selected in the 2001 Entry Draft, an option to swap first-round picks with St. Louis between 1999 and 2003 Entry Drafts (subject to St. Louis deferring one time - this pick) and $1.425M in cash.
- Tampa Bay's first-round pick went to Florida as the result of a trade on June 21, 2003 that sent two second round picks (# 34 and 41 overall) and a sixth-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft to Tampa Bay in exchange for this pick.
- Colorado's first-round pick went to Los Angeles as the result of a trade on February 21, 2001 that sent Rob Blake and Steven Reinprecht to Colorado in exchange for Adam Deadmarsh, Aaron Miller, first-round pick in the 2001 Entry Draft, future considerations (Jared Aulin) and this pick.
- Detroit's first-round pick went to Los Angeles as the result of a trade on March 11, 2003 that sent Mathieu Schneider to Detroit in exchange for Sean Avery, Maxim Kuznetsov, a second-round pick in the 2004 Entry Draft and this pick.
- Dallas' first-round pick went to Anaheim as the result of a trade on June 21, 2003 that sent two second-round picks (# 36 & 54 overall) to Dallas in exchange for this pick.
- St. Louis acquired this pick from New Jersey on January 4, 1999 as penalty for Scott Stevens tampering. New Jersey received a choice of a first-round pick between 1999 and 2003 Entry Drafts (selected in the 2001 Entry Draft, an option to swap first-round picks with St. Louis between 1999 and 2003 Entry Drafts (subject to St. Louis deferring one time - this pick) and $1.425M in cash.
