I downloaded my digital copy of The Hockey News 2009 Draft Preview today. It features an article looking back 10 years at the 1999 Draft. Now the '99 Draft was memorable to me since I was living in Atlanta and the Thrashers were a shiny new expansion team with thousands of season ticket holders and a spanking new building--but lacked a roster of actual flesh and blood hockey players. Naturally I was curious to see who would be taking the ice.

So imagine my surprise as I'm reading this retrospective article by John Grigg when he asserts in the sixth paragraph this statement:

"With the first overall pick, the Thrashers - looking to make a splash in front of the hometown fans with the team's first-ever drat pick - chose Czech cetner Patrick Stefan from the International League's Long Beach Thunder."

I was living in Atlanta and I certainly don't remember any draft taking place here. Then later he repeats this claim.

"Of the 272 players selected in Atlanta that year, just six scored more than 300 or more NHL points..."

Feeling a bit like Rip Van Winkle--perhaps I really did sleep through the only NHL Draft to take place in Atlanta--I pulled out an old copy of the NHL Guide and Record Book. Sure enough, right there in black and white it says 1999 Draft held in Fleet Center in Boston.

I find it amazing that something as basic as the location of the draft was not correctly identified by either the author or editor when it could have been checked in 5 seconds via google or the NHL Record Book.