Larry Brooks is not impressed with this year’s draft talent, but it doesn’t mean these boys won’t impress us once they lace up for whichever club selects and/or signs them.

Remember Hugh Jessiman? He’s been a hugh-ge disappointment for the Rangers. The much touted player has toiled in the ECHL and the AHL since becoming a Ranger property and is now 23 years old. If he doesn’t break out this year at the NHL level, he likely never will, and will go down as one of the biggest first round selection busts in the annals of the sport. Check out the 1983 NHL draft at hockeydb.com … take note of the number one pick versus numbers three and four.

I’m not saying this year’s draft class will be as good ’83, which was a spectacular year for NHL talent, but there’s really no telling. If you go down the ’83 list, you’ll find many familiar names of stalwarts that had impressive careers. The 108th selection is notable, as are 110 and 121.

Most illuminating is perhaps the 199th selection of 1983 … one Dominik Hasek. The bottom line is that NHL success depends on a number of factors, the foremost of which is the opportunity to play at the elite level … the poorest indication of how well a player will perform, however, is the number at which they’re selected. At least in my opinion.

So, while no one is particularly revved up about this year’s class … we may get this generation’s Steve Yzerman, Rick Tocchet, Joey Kocur (88th in ’83) and Dominik Hasek. When it comes to the draft, minor league numbers only mean so much … only the time these kids spend in the big leagues — that and their results — will tell if this year’s draft was worth talking about.