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Dishonourable Mention: Jim Playfair, 20th overall, 1982

Jim Playfair was the prototype of what became a depressing pattern for the Edmonton Oilers — the failed first rounder. Before his selection in 1982, Barry Fraser and Co. had struck gold with Kevin Lowe in ’79, Paul Coffey in ’80, Grant Fuhr in ’81. It was inevitable that such a roll wouldn’t carry on forever, but nobody expected the fall would be quite so precipitous.

Playfair was (wait for it) a big, snarly defenceman, one who routinely averaged 2+ penalty minutes per game in every league he played in. Which turned out to be a couple hundred games each in the WHL, IHL, and AHL, but less than a couple of dozen in the bigs.

The two time WHL champion with Portland Winterhawks had a promising start with the Oil in an emergency two-game call-up in November 1983. He even scored a goal and an assist in his NHL debut, the famous Mickey Mouse game in which an Oiler club at the peak of their offensive powers drubbed the hapless New Jersey Devils 13-4. Life was good, and surely Oilers had another young colt kicking up his heels down on the farm.

But that was it. The likeable youngster never dressed again for the Oilers, playing three years down in Nova Scotia in which he scored three goals total.The rest of his game showed little enough development that the organization allowed him to walk upon the completion of what today would be considered his entry level contract.

The Chicago Blackhawks gave him a chance, including a couple of cups of NHL coffee the next two years, but he never stuck. After a couple more injury-shortened seasons, Playfair retired at age 27, turning his attention to coaching where he has mostly served in the Calgary Flames organization, including a year at the helm of the big club. He’s currently an associate coach with Phoenix Coyotes, but is surely best known for this memorable tirade with Abbotsford Heat a few years back:

Related at the Cult of Hockey

– Draft bust #8: Joe Hulbig (DHM: Shawn Babcock)

– Draft bust #9: Riley Nash (DHM: Alex Plante)

– Draft bust #10: Robin Kovar (DHM: Alexei Mikhnov)

– Draft win #8 – Esa Tikkanen(HM: Jaroslav Pouzar)

– Draft win #9: Steve Smith (HM: Kelly Buchberger)

– Draft win #10: Ryan Smyth (HM: Shawn Horcoff)

– Steve Smith’s Family Tree — a draft gift that keeps on giving

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