With the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets entering the NHL as expansion teams in 2000, each new franchise sought to build via the draft. In early years, the Wild and Blue Jackets drafted Marian Gaborik and Rick Nash, respectively, with high first-round draft picks to serve as franchise cornerstone players. Each forward eventually went on to have an illustrious career with the team that drafted him, sitting at or near the top of various career offensive categories, e.g. goals scored. Moreover, the duo had similar overall career lengths and statistics, thus making for an interesting comparison:
Who was better – Marian Gaborik or Rick Nash?
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