Which are the 3 best NHL Draft classes? Taking a closer look

The NHL Draft is always an exciting time for fans and teams as they hope to turn their team's fortunes around with a few selections.

Although in every draft class, there are future NHL Hall of Famers and perennial All-Stars, some draft classes are just better than others. Some NHL Draft classes have had multiple Hall of Famers selected.

So, let's take a look at the best three. It was difficult to narrow it to three, though, as there were many contenders. Nevertheless, here's a look at the top three:

#1 2003 NHL Draft

The 2003 Draft class was hyped as one of the best of all time, and it has lived up to the hype.

The 2003 NHL Draft was held in Nashville, Tennessee - just like the 2023 NHL Draft. With the first overall pick, the Pittsburgh Penguins selected Marc-Andre Fleury. Out of the 30 first-round picks, 17 became All-Stars, while the later rounds also yielded many All-Stars.

That year's NHL Draft saw the likes of Fleury, Eric Staal, Ryan Suter, Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, Brent Seabrook, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Brent Burns, Ryan Kessler, Miek Richards, Brian Boyle and Corey Perry selected in the first round.

The rest of the draft saw Patrice Bergeron, Shea Weber, Corey Crawford, David Backes, Joe Pavelski, Dustin Byfuglien and Tobias Enstrom get selected.

#2 1983 Draft

The 1983 NHL Draft saw 19 All-Stars getting selected, and one of the best players to never play in the NHL was drafted that year. Vladislav Tretiak is arguably one of the best goalies of all time but never got the chance to play in the NHL due to the Soviet Union.

The 1983 NHL Draft class saw eight players be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The draft saw the likes of Steve Yzerman, Pat LaFontaine, Tom Barrasso, Cam Neely, Claude Lemieux, Bob Probert, Esa Tikkanen, Gary Galley, Rick Tocchet, Christian Ruutu, Vladislav Tretiak, Viacheslav Fetisov, Dominik Hasek, and Sergei Makarov among others.

#3 2005 Draft

The final draft class on this last was a tough one, but I will go with the 2005 NHL Draft. That year's NHL Draft saw Sidney Crosby getting drafted first overall and will see multiple Hall of Famers once their careers are over.

The 2005 NHL Draft produced 13 NHL All-Stars and saw the likes of Crosby, Bobby Ryan, Carey Price, Anze Kopitar, Marc Staal, Tuukka Rask, TJ Oshie, James Neal, Paul Statsny, Kris Letang, Jonathan Quick, Ben Bishop and Keith Yandle getting selected.