1999 NHL entry draft

1999 NHL Entry Draft
General information
Date(s)	June 26, 1999
Location	FleetCenter Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Overview
First selection	Patrik Stefan (Atlanta Thrashers)
Hall of Famers	2 LW Daniel Sedin C Henrik Sedin
← 1998 2000 →

The 1999 NHL Entry Draft was the 37th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 at the FleetCenter in Boston. According to Sports Illustrated and other sports news agencies, at the time the 1999 draft was considered one of the deepest in talent in years, headed by Patrik Stefan and the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik.^[1]

As a result of the draft lottery, the first three picks going into draft day were held by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Atlanta Thrashers expansion team, and the Vancouver Canucks, respectively. The Canucks were determined to select both Sedins and therefore initiated a trading carousel involving multiple teams. After the trading was done, the Lightning had traded out of the first round altogether while the Thrashers held the first overall pick. However, Atlanta had also agreed not to draft either of the Sedin twins. The Thrashers therefore selected Stefan while the Canucks used the second and third picks to select the Sedins.

The overall impact in the NHL of players selected has not matched that of the neighboring drafts. An example is how many first round picks have played the equivalent of an entire regular season ten seasons after the 1999 draft; only 16 out of 28 first round picks in 1999 have played 82 NHL games, while the same statistic applies to 23 out of 27 players in 1998 and 21 out of 30 players in 2000. In addition, while the Sedin twins have excelled in the NHL, only Barret Jackman and Martin Havlat were still active players of the other 26 first-round picks in the NHL 15 years after the draft.

The last active player in the NHL from the 1999 draft class was Craig Anderson, who retired after the 2022–23 season, although he was re-drafted in 2001.