Nathan Horton

Playing career

Horton grew up in Dunnville, Ontario, and played minor hockey with the Welland Tigers of the OMHA South Central AAA League until his Minor Peewee year. He then moved to the Greater Toronto Hockey League with the Toronto Red Wings before leaving during his peewee season to join the Thorold Blackhawks Jr. B. club of the Ontario Hockey Association's Golden Horseshoe League at age 13. While with Welland, he often played up on the '84 Tigers team alongside future NHLers Dan Girardi, Daniel Paille, and Andre Deveaux.

Horton entered junior hockey with the Thorold Blackhawks, scoring 16 goals and 31 assists in 41 games. Prior to the 2001 Ontario Hockey League Draft, the 16-year-old stated he would not report to the Mississauga Ice Dogs if drafted first overall; he was instead selected second overall by the Oshawa Generals. As a rookie in the OHL, he totaled 31 goals and 36 assists in 64 games, and over two seasons with Oshawa he scored 64 goals and recorded 71 assists.

To begin the 2002–03 season, Horton missed 13 of 22 games but still scored 9 goals with 18 points. He was named to the Canadian national junior team's selection camp in December but was one of the first cuts, and ended his final Oshawa season with 33 goals and 35 assists in 54 games. In January 2002, Horton was regarded as a top OHL prospect for the 2003 NHL entry draft alongside Patrick O'Sullivan and Kevin Klein; by December, USA Today called him an almost sure-fire top-five pick.

Midway through the 2002–03 season, the NHL Central Scouting Bureau considered him a top-five North American prospect. Scouts likened him to power forward John LeClair, though Horton saw himself as more like Jeremy Roenick or Peter Forsberg. The Florida Panthers originally held the first overall pick but traded it and the 73rd pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the third pick (Horton), the 55th pick (Stefan Meyer), and Mikael Samuelsson. Goaltender Marc-André Fleury and centre Eric Staal were selected before him.