With the Colorado Avalanche’s Stanley Cup win this season, two first overall picks won the Stanley Cup for the first time: Nathan MacKinnon and Erik Johnson. On the other side of the ice, another first overall pick in Steven Stamkos was denied his third Cup after winning it for the first time in 2020.
Going back through NHL history, we took a look at how long it usually takes for a first overall draft pick to win the Stanley Cup.
| Year | Team | First Overall Pick | First Cup Win | Years Since Draft | With Drafted Team? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Montreal Canadiens | Garry Monahan | – | – | – |
| 1964 | Detroit Red Wings | Claude Gauthier | – | – | – |
| 1965 | New York Rangers | Andre Veilleux | – | – | – |
| 1966 | Boston Bruins | Barry Gibbs | – | – | – |
| 1967 | Los Angeles Kings | Rick Pagnutti | – | – | – |
| 1968 | Montreal Canadiens | Michel Plasse | 1973 | 5 | Yes |
| 1969 | Montreal Canadiens | Rejean Houle | 1971 | 2 | Yes |
| 1970 | Buffalo Sabres‡ | Gilbert Perreault | – | – | – |
| 1971 | Montreal Canadiens | Guy Lafleur | 1973 | 2 | Yes |
| 1972 | New York Islanders | Billy Harris | – | – | – |
| 1973 | New York Islanders | Denis Potvin | 1980 | 7 | Yes |
| 1974 | Washington Capitals | Greg Joly | – | – | – |
| 1975 | Philadelphia Flyers | Mel Bridgman | – | – | – |
| 1976 | Washington Capitals | Rick Green | 1986 | 10 | No |
| 1977 | Detroit Red Wings | Dale McCourt | – | – | – |
| 1978 | Minnesota North Stars | Bobby Smith | 1986 | 8 | No |
| 1979 | Colorado Rockies | Rob Ramage | 1989 | 10 | No |
| 1980 | Montreal Canadiens | Doug Wickenheiser | – | – | – |
| 1981 | Winnipeg Jets | Dale Hawerchuk | – | – | – |
| 1982 | Boston Bruins | Gord Kluzak | – | – | – |
| 1983 | Minnesota North Stars | Brian Lawton | – | – | – |
| 1984 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Mario Lemieux | 1991 | 7 | Yes |
| 1985 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Wendel Clark | – | – | – |
| 1986 | Detroit Red Wings | Joe Murphy | 1990 | 4 | No |
| 1987 | Buffalo Sabres | Pierre Turgeon | – | – | – |
| 1988 | Minnesota North Stars | Mike Modano | 1999 | 11 | Yes |
| 1989 | Quebec Nordiques | Mats Sundin | – | – | – |
| 1990 | Quebec Nordiques | Owen Nolan | – | – | – |
| 1991 | Quebec Nordiques | Eric Lindros | – | – | – |
| 1992 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Roman Hamrlik | – | – | – |
| 1993 | Ottawa Senators | Alexandre Daigle | – | – | – |
| 1994 | Florida Panthers | Ed Jovanovski | – | – | – |
| 1995 | Ottawa Senators | Bryan Berard | – | – | – |
| 1996 | Ottawa Senators | Chris Phillips | – | – | – |
| 1997 | Boston Bruins | Joe Thornton | – | – | – |
| 1998 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Vincent Lecavalier | 2004 | 6 | Yes |
| 1999 | Atlanta Thrashers | Patrik Stefan | – | – | – |
| 2000 | New York Islanders | Rick DiPietro | – | – | – |
| 2001 | Atlanta Thrashers | Ilya Kovalchuk | – | – | – |
| 2002 | Columbus Blue Jackets | Rick Nash | – | – | – |
| 2003 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Marc-Andre Fleury | 2009 | 6 | Yes |
| 2004 | Washington Capitals | Alexander Ovechkin | 2019 | 15 | Yes |
| 2005 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Sidney Crosby | 2009 | 4 | Yes |
| 2006 | St. Louis Blues | Erik Johnson | 2022 | 16 | No |
| 2007 | Chicago Blackhawks | Patrick Kane | 2010 | 3 | Yes |
| 2008 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Steven Stamkos | 2020 | 12 | Yes |
| 2009 | New York Islanders | John Tavares | – | – | – |
| 2010 | Edmonton Oilers | Taylor Hall | – | – | – |
| 2011 | Edmonton Oilers | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | – | – | – |
| 2012 | Edmonton Oilers | Nail Yakupov | – | – | – |
| 2013 | Colorado Avalanche | Nathan MacKinnon | 2022 | 9 | Yes |
| 2014 | Florida Panthers | Aaron Ekblad | – | – | – |
| 2015 | Edmonton Oilers | Connor McDavid | – | – | – |
| 2016 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Auston Matthews | – | – | – |
| 2017 | New Jersey Devils | Nico Hischier | – | – | – |
| 2018 | Buffalo Sabres | Rasmus Dahlin | – | – | – |
| 2019 | New Jersey Devils | Jack Hughes | – | – | – |
| 2020 | New York Rangers | Alexis Lafreni̬re | Р| Р| Р|
| 2021 | Buffalo Sabres | Owen Power | – | – | – |
Of the 59 first overall picks in NHL history, only 18 (~30%) have won a Stanley Cup.
Among the first overalls to win the Cup, it has taken on average eight years for them to win the Stanley Cup. The shortest time a first overall pick had to wait to win the Cup is two years; Guy Lafleur won his first Cup with the Montreal Canadiens just two years after he was drafted. The longest time a first overall pick has had to wait, not including those who haven’t won a Cup at all, is 16 years when Alex Ovechkin won for the first time in 2019 with the Washington Capitals.
The first time a first overall pick won the Cup was in 1973 when Michel Plasse won it with the Montreal Canadians, just five years after he was drafted.
The most recent first overall pick to win the Stanley Cup is MacKinnon, doing so nine years after he was drafted. No picks since—including Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews—have yet to make it to the Stanley Cup final.
Many of the more recent first overall picks have teams that are poised to challenge for the Cup in the next few years including Aaron Ekblad with the Florida Panthers, McDavid with the Oilers, Matthews with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Lafreniere with the New York Rangers.
In just one week’s time, it looks like one of Shane Wright or Juraj Slafkovsky will be the 60th first overall pick in NHL history. Only time will tell if they will join the 18 other first overalls to win the Cup, or if they will fail to do so like 41 that came before them.
