Watching Jack Eichel play in his first Stanley Cup Final with the Vegas Golden Knights and seeing his team take a 2-0 lead on the Florida Panthers is impressive to watch.

It's all the more interesting given that, not only can he take a wicked hit and come back from it, but he's with his second NHL team and thriving since he was taken No. 2 overall in the 2015 NHL draft.

Eichel was the No. 2 pick of that draft by the Buffalo Sabres and the 2015 draft was fascinating for a lot of different reasons. It was also the draft where Connor McDavid was No. 1 with a bullet, Mitch Marner blossomed into a star for the Toronto Maple Leafs and many more selections looked better (and worse) now eight years later.

(Has it really been eight years?! Someone get me my prune juice and a cloud to yell at.)

With this much time passed and enough known about the players taken that year, it makes it the perfect time to look back and correct how that draft went down. Some of those surprising picks later on in the draft should've been made sooner and some of the players taken early on should've been there on the board later on and we're going to fix that once and for all.

That's right, we're doing a re-draft and we're going to take into account what those teams needed at the time as well as just how good the players turned out to be. Sometimes the player overrides the need and, in other situations, the need was too great at that moment. Through all of that, only one outcome is probably the most predictable and that's OK! But maybe it isn't.

We'll do the top-10 picks from 2015 all over again, so let's rock.

No. 1: Edmonton Oilers - Connor McDavid

Original pick: Connor McDavid

Re-Draft pick: Connor McDavid

Let's be serious here, even in a full re-draft, there's no way the Oilers do not take Connor McDavid.

McDavid is the No. 1 scorer from the 2015 draft class and it's not even close. In 569 games, McDavid has 303 goals and 850 points. The next closest to him in goals is Mikko Rantanen with 220 and the next closest in points is Mitch Marner who has 554. He's 83 goals ahead of Rantanen and 296 points ahead of Marner. That's absolutely ridiculous which is just what McDavid is as a scorer: Ridiculous.

Yes, the Oilers have not lifted the Stanley Cup with McDavid leading the way in Edmonton but it's beyond fair to ask how much of that is his fault or the fault of Oilers management through the years. (Hint: McDavid doesn't sign the players)

McDavid was the main reason for everyone to be one of the two worst teams in the league (Eichel was the other, albeit McDavid was the guy to get) because the lottery rules meant finishing last guaranteed the team doing so either the No. 1 or No. 2 pick depending on how the ping pong balls bounced.

McDavid may not have looked too thrilled at the idea of going to Edmonton, but he's been hands down the best offensive player in the NHL for years and why he has to be the No. 1 guy.

No. 2: Buffalo Sabres - Jack Eichel

Original pick: Jack Eichel

Re-Draft pick: Jack Eichel

What's tricky about doing a re-draft with the clarity the present day provides is that as much as you might want a team like the Buffalo Sabres -- whose ugly divorce with Jack Eichel took a couple of years to settle -- to take someone other than Eichel, there was only one player they could take at the time that wouldn't have gotten everyone fired on the spot.

Even with knowing it didn't work out in the end and that then-GM Tim Murray was fired a couple of years later, the only player to pick at No. 2 was Eichel. And you know what? That's totally OK because of any of the blockbuster trades that have happened in recent years, Eichel going to Vegas for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs and draft picks worked out in exactly the best way for everyone to go away from it satisfied and happier.

Sure, Buffalo could've taken Mitch Marner, but they still would've lacked a center to play next to him. Same goes for Mikko Rantanen. Yes, they could've drafted Sebastian Aho, but would he and Sam Reinhart have been the proper building blocks for the Sabres? It's a hard leap of faith to take that it would've been. They could've gone way off the board with defenseman Zach Werenski or Noah Hanifin, but they weren't in the position to go that far out of what scouts and experts agreed.

Yes, the Sabres would take Eichel and not have given it a second thought. If nothing else, hindsight would've provided the proper insight as to how better surround him, Reinhart and others to better make it work.

No. 3: Arizona Coyotes - Sebastian Aho

Original pick: Dylan Strome

Re-Draft pick: Sebastian Aho

The Coyotes were in the unenviable position of picking behind Edmonton and Buffalo in the draft the year when the top two picks were all but decided.

The biggest mystery of the draft was about who the Coyotes would take. When their turn came up, they were also in desperate need of a No. 1 center. At the time, Dylan Strome made all the sense in the world. He put up a ton of points with the Erie Otters in the OHL while also playing as a teammate of Connor McDavid. Strome's performance had some enhancement from McDavid, but he was enough of his own player to justify the high pick.

As we've learned, it's taken Strome years to find his way to a good situation in Washington after starting in Arizona and going to Chicago later on. Still, he's not in the same class as McDavid or Jack Eichel or the player the Coyotes would take to be their No. 1 center in this re-draft in Sebastian Aho.

Aho has scored 30 or more goals four times in his career with Carolina and wildly enough, he makes a huge leap up the board because he was taken by Carolina in the second round with the 35th pick in 2015. Everyone could've had Aho, but the Hurricanes were the ones that landed him. This time around, the Coyotes don't miss and get the big-scoring center they sought out originally.

No. 4: Toronto Maple Leafs - Mitch Marner

Original pick: Mitch Marner

Re-Draft pick: Mitch Marner

Is this predictable, boring or just the right choice? Sure, we could have fun and send Kaprizov or Rantanen to Toronto and really stir things up, but the truth is, Marner has been all that and then some with the Maple Leafs.

It's easy to forget what a big deal it was for Toronto to take Marner. Marner's play in OHL London being just within the shadow of Toronto was enough for the entire city to know all about him and what he can do. With Marner hailing from Markham, Ontario just outside of Toronto, it was as much of a homer pick as anything.

The reality of it is, though, Marner has been a brilliant player for the Leafs. His playmaking ability is elite and his play on the other side of the puck has gotten so good that PHWA voters recognized it as such with Marner being a finalist for the Selke Trophy this year.

We could say the idea of Rantanen or Kaprizov playing with Auston Matthews is beyond exciting, but that's taking away from what Marner's done in the same position in which he's also been electrifying.

Sometimes the right pick happens to the right team. Even if everything has been beyond dramatic in Toronto of late, there's no doubt that Marner was the right pick then and would be the right pick again now.

No. 5: Carolina Hurricanes - Kirill Kaprizov

Original pick: Noah Hanifin

Re-Draft pick: Kirill Kaprizov

Life is funny.

When Carolina selected defenseman Noah Hanifin with the fifth overall pick out of Boston College, it was viewed as a great pick. Hanifin had all the make-up to be a top blue liner in the NHL for years to come, and, for a Hurricanes team that was building, it made sense since every team needs a great defensive backbone. What's more amusing is they drafted forward Sebastian Aho in the second round of the 2015 Draft, 35th overall.

Hanifin was eventually traded to Calgary with Elias Lindholm for Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland, and the rights to defenseman Adam Fox, a deal that in retrospect is a blockbuster and a half. Hanifin has been solid in Calgary and Lindholm has been outstanding there. Hamilton was great in Carolina for three seasons before winding up in New Jersey and Ferland went on Vancouver after a decent season with the Hurricanes. Fox went on to sign with the New York Rangers as a free agent and won the Norris Trophy in 2021.

That trade had a massive impact on multiple teams, but arguably the least impact came with Carolina. That won't be the case this time around because highlight-reel forward Kirill Kaprizov will alter everyone's future by going to Carolina.

Kaprizov took years to come to the NHL, but when he arrived in Minnesota, he lived up to every bit of hype attached to him and turned into a monster offensive producer with the Wild. The thought of "Kirill the Thrill" playing in Rod Brind'Amour's system in Carolina is tingle-inducing. His electric play and elite skill in Carolina's shoot first, ask questions later system makes our heads spin collectively.

No. 6: New Jersey Devils - Mikko Rantanen

Original pick: Pavel Zacha

Re-Draft pick: Mikko Rantanen

It's fun to think of how history would've changed had things gone differently in this draft.

The Devils turning Pavel Zacha into Erik Haula before this season was a stroke of genius for both teams. Zacha turned into a 20-goal scorer for Boston Bruins and Haula was the veteran who helped unlock the depth New Jersey needed to become one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.

Then again...the Devils landing Mikko Rantanen right out of the gate could've changed history.

Rantanen has scored 30 goals or more in four of the past five seasons and set a career high with 55 this year. He's second in the 2015 draft class in career goals with 220, trailing only McDavid and his 513 points are third best in the class behind McDavid (850) and Mitch Marner (554). To say he's been a great player is putting it lightly. Playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog has been good for Rantanen but he's also accomplished a lot on his own.

But that's where history comes into play. Would Rantanen turn into the prolific scorer in New Jersey playing with Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique and Travis Zajac? Would the Devils have acquired Taylor Hall to join a young Rantanen and have an MVP season with rookie Nico Hischier in 2018? Would the Devils have performed poorly enough with Rantanen to be able to win the lottery in 2017 to be able to pick Hischier?

Changing history like this is the kind of thing Dr. Emmett Brown warned us about in "Back to the Future" and Rantanen going to New Jersey and ultimately costing them Hischier and Jack Hughes because he's so good is a wild idea. That said, there's no way Rantanen wouldn't have been the choice here.

No. 7: Philadelphia Flyers - Roope Hintz

Original pick: Ivan Provorov

Re-Draft pick: Roope Hintz

Ivan Provorov has been an OK defenseman in Philadelphia. He's produced points, but he's been somewhat of a liability with his defensive game. As a defenseman, that's a little bit of a problem. That's why hindsight providing the ability to see Roope Hintz would've been a game-changer up front as a forward makes looking back on this draft a little harder for Flyers fans.

Hintz was a late bloomer stats-wise, but he's developed into a dynamic scorer and set-up man for Jason Robertson. Having that kind of player up front in Philadelphia would've been a monstrous development to go along with Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux.

Yes, the Flyers needed defensemen -- they still do -- and, yes, Provorov was a very justifiable pick at the time, but looking back at how players have turned out and where their careers are headed, having Hintz would've really made times a lot easier for the Flyers. At 6'3", 219 pounds, Hintz is absolutely Philly-sized and his mix of size, grit and scoring would make him a hero among Flyers faithful the second he laid out an opponent to score a go-ahead goal.

It's such a painful no-brainer of a pick in retrospect it hurts. But hey, maybe Provorov will have the classic defenseman's path where it takes a little longer to break out in a big way. Then again...Hintz is the real deal already.

No. 8: Columbus Blue Jackets - Kyle Connor

Original pick: Zach Werenski

Re-Draft pick: Kyle Connor

The beauty of doing a re-draft is asking questions like: Would this team have done things differently if they knew how it would go? And for the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2015 , t's a fascinating question.

Zach Werenski has been a great defenseman for Columbus and injuries prevented him from showing even more this season why that's the case. But it's Werenski's University of Michigan teammates, Kyle Connor, who should've given Columbus a lot more to chew on if they knew he'd become an annual top scorer in the NHL

In five of Connor's six full NHL seasons, he's scored 30 or more goals. The one season he didn't was the COVID-shortened 2020-2021 season in which he had 26 goals in 56 games which isn't bad at all. The Blue Jackets have been goal-starved for years and the idea of Connor suiting up for the Blue Jackets to fill the net would make a GM change their mind.

Connor's offensive prowess in Winnipeg has been impressive and even playing alongside Patrik Laine didn't prevent him from scoring on his own. That's reason enough to know that taking him would've worked out great in Columbus. There's also the butterfly effect in place here.

If Columbus took Connor, would that have prevented them from trading Seth Jones to Chicago? After all, the Jackets having Werenski made it easier to move Jones out of town. This kind of intrigue is what this kind of exercise is all about.

No. 9: San Jose Sharks - Mathew Barzal

Original Pick: Timo Meier

Re-Draft Pick: Mathew Barzal

Yes, the Sharks could've taken Timo Meier all over again in our re-draft and that would've been perfectly acceptable for them. The thing is, passing on a talented center like Mathew Barzal might have been an error, especially after moving on from Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau.

Centers will always get the benefit of the doubt compared to wingers unless the wingers fill the net at the kind of rate that makes GMs forget about defensive responsibilities and faceoffs. Meier is really good at scoring goals, but Barzal's speed, creativity and passing ability would work well with the likes of Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture.

This one is a real toss-up given Meier's scoring penchant as well as the Sharks' needs down the road to be better up the middle. Meier showed in his Sharks career that he's an outstanding scorer as well as a physical presence. It would've been perfectly justified to take him again. That said, the Sharks realized that changes would be coming down the road sooner than later and having Barzal to build around that would've been very difficult to pass up.

No. 10: Colorado Avalanche - Timo Meier

Original Pick: Mikko Rantanen

Re-Draft Pick: Timo Meier

When the Avalanche got Mikko Rantanen at No. 10 in 2015, it was mostly seen as a solid pick that would suit Colorado well down the road. What we didn't know then was how good a scorer Rantanen would become, particularly when teamed up with Nathan MacKinnon.

The thing with a re-draft is we all know how things turned out. That means Rantanen, a four-time 30-plus-goal scorer and four-time 80-plus point scorer, can't exactly slip even as far as 10th in a re-draft. Fortunately for Colorado, Timo Meier is right there for the taking.

Meier, like Rantanen, can pile up goals and he plays a physical style of game. Perhaps that makes him similar to Gabriel Landeskog and what's better than having one Landeskog than having two guys who play that kind of game? The Avalanche come out feeling really good about where they're headed with Meier on the wing to play with MacKinnon and on the other side of Landeskog. It's hard to argue with that kind of setup.

Could a player like Zach Werenski make for a great pick here? Sure! But also given the Avalanche went for forward in the first place, it seems to show they would've leaned this way regardless.