The more we do this, the more we view the NHL Amateur Draft as a mystery.  Constantly, there are first-round picks who never make it to the big dance, and there are mid-to-late Round Picks who have long careers, and Martin Erat fell into the latter category.

The Nashville Predators chose Erat 191^st Overall in 1999, and the Right Wing from the Czech Republic made the team two years later.  Erat’s rookie year was decent (33 Points), but he struggled as a sophomore, so much so that he was demoted to the AHL for most of the year.  With the sophomore slump in his rearview mirror, Erat was set to be an established NHL player.

Erat had 49 Points in 2003-04 and repeated that in 2005-06, the year after the NHL Lockout.  He would again replicate Point outputs, this time of 57 in 2006-07 and 2007-08, and Erat would have at least 49 Points over the next four seasons.  Erat was not a top-line player but a strong second-line player and a valuable commodity to the Predators when he played there.

After he turned 30, Erat was traded to Washington.  As a Predator, Erat accumulated 481 Points in 723 Games.

Glen Murray began and ended his career with the Boston Bruins, but in between, he had a stint with Pittsburgh and a run with Los Angeles, which lasted six years and started late in the 1996-97 Season.

Murray received more ice time in L.A., and he was also beginning the prime of his hockey career.  The Right Wing put up 60 Points in his first full year in Los Angeles, and while he dropped to 31 in his second, he rebounded with 62 in his third (1999-00).  Murray continued his trend of bouncing up and down in his Kings stint, dropping back to 39 Points in year four, and at this point, the Kings might have thought they knew what they had with him.

Murray was traded to his original team, Boston, very early in the 2001/02 Season, and he was even better, going to two All-Star Games in the second half of his career.  With the Kings, Murray tabulated 211 Points in 304 Games.

Jozef Stumpel was coming into his own as a playmaker with the Boston Bruins, and after a 76-Point year, he was traded to Los Angeles, who needed his abilities.

In Stumpel’s first season as a King, he had a career-high 58 Assists, a number that was good enough to land him fifth in the league.  Injuries affected Stumpel over the next two years, as he missed a handful of games in both years. However, when he was healthy, he played as well as anyone in the NHL.

Early in the 2001/02 Season, Stumpel was traded back to Boston. Two years later, he was dealt back to L.A., played one more year, and then signed with the Florida Panthers as a Free Agent.  As a King, Stumpel scored 267 Points in 334 Games.

Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall felt that Bernie Nicholls could score, but they already had players who could put the puck in the net.  McNall wanted grit, and he got that when he engineered a trade with the New York Rangers that sent Tony Granato to the Kings.

Granato did not put up the same Points totals that Nicholls did, but he was a completely different player.  The Right Wing still had his best years in Los Angeles, posting three consecutive 60-plus years, peaking with a career-high 82 Points in 1992-93.  That year, Granato helped the Kings make the Stanley Cup Finals, and he led all skaters in Shots (77).

After the Finals, Granato’s hard-hitting style caught up to him, and he was frequently out of the lineup due to injury.  When his contract expired, he signed with the San Jose Sharks and would go to his first All-Star Game.  

With the Kings, Granato scored 305 Points in 380 Games.