By Mike Smith



The Chicago Blackhawks’ scouting group gathered at our hotel in Nashville after the first day of the 2003 draft. We were pleased with how the draft had gone so far. We selected the player who we wanted, defenseman Brent Seabrook, with the 14th pick. We also got who we considered the top goalie in the draft, Corey Crawford, in the second round, with pick 52. Both players would become cornerstones of the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup championships.



We began to work on our list of players for the later rounds of the draft. Marshall Johnston, the club’s director of player development, asked, “Why is this guy Byfuglien not on our list?” Bruce Franklin, the club’s western scout said, “he’s too fat.”



Marshall replied, “I don’t care how fat he is, he can play!”



We talked about Dustin Byfuglien for a few minutes. I finally said, “We’ll take him with a late pick.”...