The 2003 NHL Entry Draft was held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Marc-Andre Fleury was selected 1st overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins, only the third goalie in NHL history selected as the 1st overall draft choice. Eric Staal was 2nd, picked by the Carolina Hurricanes, and Nathan Horton was selected 3rd by the Florida Panthers.

Many analysts have pegged this draft as one of the most talented groups ever selected in a single draft. Fleury, Staal, Horton, and Nikolai Zherdev all played significant time in the NHL immediately after they were drafted. Milan Michalek also made the San Jose Sharks out of training camp that year, but suffered a serious knee injury that cost him the season. Also, second-round draftee Patrice Bergeron also saw significant playing time with the Boston Bruins. Each one of the top 10 selections played at least 10 games in the NHL in the 2005–06 season (Braydon Coburn is the only one to play less, at nine games). Additionally, only one player from the draft's first round (Hugh Jessiman, New York Rangers) has yet to play at least one game in the NHL. Mike Richards (Flyers), Zach Parise (Devils), Ryan Getzlaf (Ducks), and Eric Staal (Hurricanes) all led their teams in scoring in the 2007–08 regular season.

Draft day trades

• The Florida Panthers trade the 1st pick (Marc-Andre Fleury) and 73rd pick (Daniel Carcillo) to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 3rd pick (Nathan Horton), the 55th pick (Stefan Meyer) and Mikael Samuelsson.
• The Edmonton Oilers trade the 17th pick (Zach Parise) to the New Jersey Devils for the 22nd pick (Marc-Antoine Pouliot) and the 68th pick (Jean-Francois Jacques).
• The St. Louis Blues trade Cory Stillman to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 62nd pick (David Backes).
• The New Jersey Devils trade Mike Danton and the 101st pick (Konstantin Zakharov) to the St. Louis Blues for the 93rd pick (Ivan Khomutov).

Draft order

Round 1

#	Player	Nationality	NHL team	College/junior/club team
1	Marc-Andre Fleury (G)	Canada	Pittsburgh Penguins (from Florida Panthers)	Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL)
2	Eric Staal (C)	Canada	Carolina Hurricanes	Peterborough Petes (OHL)
3	Nathan Horton (RW)	Canada	Florida Panthers (from Pittsburgh Penguins)	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
4	Nikolai Zherdev (RW)	Russia	Columbus Blue Jackets	CSKA Moscow (RUS)
5	Thomas Vanek (LW)	Austria	Buffalo Sabres	University of Minnesota (NCAA)
6	Milan Michalek (LW)	Czech Republic	San Jose Sharks	HC Ceske Budejovice (CZE)
7	Ryan Suter (D)	United States	Nashville Predators	U.S. National Team Development Program
8	Braydon Coburn (D)	Canada	Atlanta Thrashers	Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
9	Dion Phaneuf (D)	Canada	Calgary Flames	Red Deer Rebels (WHL)
10	Andrei Kostitsyn (RW)	Belarus	Montreal Canadiens	CSKA Moscow (RUS)
11	Jeff Carter (C)	Canada	Philadelphia Flyers (from Phoenix Coyotes)	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)
12	Hugh Jessiman (RW)	United States	New York Rangers	Dartmouth College (NCAA)
13	Dustin Brown (RW)	United States	Los Angeles Kings	Guelph Storm (OHL)
14	Brent Seabrook (D)	Canada	Chicago Blackhawks	Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)
15	Robert Nilsson (RW)	Sweden	New York Islanders	Leksands IF (SWE)
16	Steve Bernier (RW)	Canada	San Jose Sharks (from Boston Bruins)	Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)
17	Zach Parise (C)	United States	New Jersey Devils (from Edmonton Oilers)	University of North Dakota (NCAA)
18	Eric Fehr (RW)	Canada	Washington Capitals	Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
19	Ryan Getzlaf (C)	Canada	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	Calgary Hitmen (WHL)
20	Brent Burns (D)	Canada	Minnesota Wild	Brampton Battalion (OHL)
21	Mark Stuart (D)	United States	Boston Bruins (from Toronto Maple Leafs)	Colorado College (NCAA)
22	Marc-Antoine Pouliot (C)	Canada	Edmonton Oilers (from St. Louis Blues)	Rimouski Océanic (QMJHL)
23	Ryan Kesler (C)	United States	Vancouver Canucks	Ohio State University (NCAA)
24	Mike Richards (C)	Canada	Philadelphia Flyers	Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
25	Anthony Stewart (RW)	Canada	Florida Panthers (from Tampa Bay Lightning)	Kingston Frontenacs (OHL)
26	Brian Boyle (C)	United States	Los Angeles Kings (from Colorado Avalanche)	St. Sebastian's (USHS)
27	Jeff Tambellini (LW)	Canada	Los Angeles Kings (from Detroit Red Wings)	University of Michigan (NCAA)
28	Corey Perry (RW)	Canada	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (from Dallas Stars)	London Knights (OHL)
29	Patrick Eaves (RW)	United States	Ottawa Senators	Boston College (NCAA)
30	Shawn Belle (D)	Canada	St. Louis Blues (from New Jersey Devils)	Tri-City Americans (WHL)

Round 2

#	Player	Nationality	NHL team	College/junior/club team
31	Danny Richmond (D)	United States	Carolina Hurricanes	University of Michigan (NCAA)
32	Ryan Stone (C)	Canada	Pittsburgh Penguins	Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
33	Loui Eriksson (LW)	Sweden	Dallas Stars (from Columbus Blue Jackets)	Frölunda HC (SWE)
34	Mike Egener (D)	Germany	Tampa Bay Lightning (from Florida Panthers)	Calgary Hitmen (WHL)
35	Konstantin Glazachev (LW)	Russia	Nashville Predators (from Buffalo Sabres)	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (RUS)
36	Vojtech Polak (RW)	Czech Republic	Dallas Stars (from San Jose Sharks)	HC Energie Karlovy Vary (CZE)
37	Kevin Klein (D)	Canada	Nashville Predators	Toronto St. Michael's Majors (OHL)
38	Kamil Kreps (C)	Czech Republic	Florida Panthers (from Atlanta Thrashers)	Brampton Battalion (OHL)
39	Tim Ramholt (D)	Switzerland	Calgary Flames	ZSC Lions (SUI)
40	Cory Urquhart (C)	Canada	Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Rocket (QMJHL)
41	Matt Smaby (D)	United States	Tampa Bay Lightning (from Phoenix Coyotes)	Shattuck-Saint Mary's (USHS)
42	Petr Vrana (LW)	Czech Republic	New Jersey Devils	Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)
43	Josh Hennessy (C)	United States	San Jose Sharks (from New York Rangers)	Québec Remparts (QMJHL)
44	Konstantin Pushkarev (LW)	Kazakhstan	Los Angeles Kings	Ust-Kamenogorsk (RUS)
45	Patrice Bergeron (C)	Canada	Boston Bruins	Acadie-Bathurst Titan (QMJHL)
46	Dan Fritsche (C)	United States	New York Rangers (from Chicago Blackhawks)	Sarnia Sting (OHL)
47	Matt Carle (D)	United States	San Jose Sharks (from Calgary Flames)	River City Lancers (USHL)
48	Dmitri Chernykh (RW)	Russia	New York Islanders	Chimik (RUS)
49	Shea Weber (D)	Canada	Nashville Predators	Kelowna Rockets (WHL)
50	Ivan Baranka (D)	Slovakia	New York Rangers (from Boston Bruins)	Dubnica (SVK)
51	Colin McDonald (RW)	United States	Edmonton Oilers	New England Jr Huskies (EJHL)
52	Corey Crawford (G)	Canada	Chicago Blackhawks	Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)
53	Evgeni Tunik (C)	Russia	New York Islanders (from Edmonton Oilers)	Elektrostal (RUS)
54	B.J. Crombeen (RW)	United States	Dallas Stars (from Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)	Barrie Colts (OHL)
55	Stefan Meyer (LW)	Canada	Florida Panthers (from Pittsburgh Penguins)	Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
56	Patrick O'Sullivan (C)	United States	Minnesota Wild	Mississauga IceDogs (OHL)
57	John Doherty (D)	United States	Toronto Maple Leafs	Phillips Academy (USHS)
58	Jeremy Colliton (C)	Canada	New York Islanders (from St. Louis Blues)	Prince Albert Raiders (WHL)
59	Michal Barinka (D)	Czech Republic	Chicago Blackhawks	HC Ceske Budejovice (CZE)
60	Marc-Andre Bernier (RW)	Canada	Vancouver Canucks	Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)
61	Maxim Lapierre (C)	Canada	Montreal Canadiens (from Philadelphia Flyers)	Montreal Rocket (QMJHL)
62	David Backes (RW)	United States	St. Louis Blues	Lincoln Stars (USHL)
63	David Liffiton (D)	Canada	Colorado Avalanche	Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
64	Jimmy Howard (G)	United States	Detroit Red Wings	University of Maine (NCAA)
65	Branislav Fabry (RW)	Slovakia	Buffalo Sabres (from Dallas Stars)	HC Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
66	Masi Marjamaki (LW)	Finland	Boston Bruins (from San Jose Sharks)	Red Deer Rebels (WHL)
67	Igor Mirnov (C)	Russia	Ottawa Senators	HC Dynamo Moscow (RUS)
68	Jean-Francois Jacques (LW)	Canada	Edmonton Oilers (from New Jersey Devils)	Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL)

Round 3

#	Player	Nationality	NHL team	College/junior/club team
69	Colin Fraser (C)	Canada	Philadelphia Flyers (from Carolina Hurricanes)	Red Deer Rebels (WHL)
70	Jonathan Filewich (RW)	Canada	Pittsburgh Penguins	Prince George Cougars (WHL)
71	Dmitri Kosmachev (D)	Russia	Columbus Blue Jackets	CSKA Moscow (RUS)
72	Mikhail Zhukov (RW)	Russia	Edmonton Oilers	Arboga (SWE)
73	Daniel Carcillo (LW)	Canada	Pittsburgh Penguins (from Florida Panthers)	Sarnia Sting (OHL)
74	Clarke MacArthur (LW)	Canada	Buffalo Sabres	Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
75	Ken Roche (C)	United States	New York Rangers (from San Jose Sharks)	St. Sebastian's (USHS)
76	Richard Stehlik (D)	Slovakia	Nashville Predators	Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)
77	Tyler Redenbach (LW)	Canada	Phoenix Coyotes (from Atlanta Thrashers)	Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
78	Danny Irmen (C)	United States	Minnesota Wild (from Calgary Flames)	Lincoln Stars (USHL)
79	Ryan O'Byrne (D)	Canada	Montreal Canadiens	Calgary Hitmen (WHL)
80	Dmitri Pestunov (C)	Kazakhstan	Phoenix Coyotes (from Phoenix Coyotes)	Metallurg Magnitogorsk (RUS)
81	Stefan Ruzicka (RW)	Slovakia	Philadelphia Flyers (from New York Rangers)	Nitra (SVK)
82	Ryan Munce (G)	Canada	Los Angeles Kings	Sarnia Sting (OHL)
83	Stephen Werner (RW)	United States	Washington Capitals (from Chicago Blackhawks)	University of Massachusetts (NCAA)
84	Konstantin Barulin (G)	Russia	St. Louis Blues (from New York Islanders)	Tyumen (RUS)
85	Alexandre Picard (D)	Canada	Philadelphia Flyers	Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)
86	Shane Hynes (RW)	Canada	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (from Boston Bruins)	Cornell University (NCAA)
87	Ryan Potulny (C)	United States	Philadelphia Flyers (from Edmonton Oilers)	Lincoln Stars (USHL)
88	Zack Fitzgerald (D)	United States	St. Louis Blues	Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)
89	Paul Brown (RW)	Canada	Nashville Predators (from Washington Capitals)	Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
90	Juha Alen (D)	Finland	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	Northern Michigan University (NCAA)
91	Martin Sagat (LW)	Slovakia	Toronto Maple Leafs (from Minnesota Wild)	Dukla Trencin (SVK)
92	Alexander Sulzer (D)	Germany	Nashville Predators (from Toronto Maple Leafs)	Hamburg Freezers (GER)
93	Ivan Khomutov (C)	Russia	New Jersey Devils (from St. Louis Blues)	Elektrostal (RUS)
94	Zack Stortini (RW)	Canada	Edmonton Oilers (from Vancouver Canucks)	Sudbury Wolves (OHL)
95	Rick Kozak (RW)	Canada	Philadelphia Flyers	Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
96	Jonathan Boutin (G)	Canada	Tampa Bay Lightning	Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)
97	Ryan Donally (LW)	Canada	Calgary Flames (from Colorado Avalanche)	Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
98	Grigory Shafigulin (C)	Russia	Nashville Predators (from Detroit Red Wings)	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (RUS)
99	Matt Nickerson (D)	United States	Dallas Stars	Texas Tornado (NAHL)
100	Philippe Seydoux (D)	Switzerland	Ottawa Senators	Kloten Flyers (SUI)
101	Konstantin Zakharov (F)	Belarus	St. Louis Blues (from New Jersey Devils)	Junost Minsk (BLR)

Round 4

#	Player	Nationality	NHL team	College/junior/club team
102	Aaron Dawson (D)	United States	Carolina Hurricanes	Peterborough Petes (OHL)
103	Kevin Jarman (LW)	Canada	Columbus Blue Jackets (from Pittsburgh Penguins)	Stouffville Spirit (OPJHL)
104	Philippe Dupuis (C)	Canada	Columbus Blue Jackets	Hull Olympiques (QMJHL)
105	Martin Lojek (D)	Czech Republic	Florida Panthers	Brampton Battalion (OHL)
106	Jan Hejda (D)	Czech Republic	Buffalo Sabres	HC Slavia Praha (CZE)
107	Byron Bitz (RW)	Canada	Boston Bruins (from San Jose Sharks)	Nanaimo Clippers (BCHL)
108	Kevin Romy (RW)	Switzerland	Philadelphia Flyers	Genève-Servette HC (SUI)
109	Andreas Valdix (LW)	Sweden	Washington Capitals (from Nashville Predators)	Malmö Redhawks (SWE)
110	Jimmy Sharrow (D)	United States	Atlanta Thrashers	Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)
111	Brandon Nolan (LW)	Canada	Vancouver Canucks	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
112	Jamie Tardif (RW)	Canada	Calgary Flames	Peterborough Petes (OHL)
113	Corey Locke (C)	Canada	Montreal Canadiens	Ottawa 67's (OHL)
114	Denis Ezhov (D)	Russia	Buffalo Sabres	Lada Togliatti (RUS)
115	Liam Lindstrom (C)	Canada	Phoenix Coyotes	Mora IK (SWE)
116	Guillaume Desbiens (RW)	Canada	Atlanta Thrashers (from New York Rangers)	Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL)
117	Teemu Lassila (G)	Finland	Nashville Predators (from Los Angeles Kings)	TPS (SM-liiga)
118	Frank Rediker (D)	United States	Boston Bruins	Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
119	Nathan Saunders (D)	Canada	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (from Chicago Blackhawks)	Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)
120	Stefan Blaho (RW)	Slovakia	New York Islanders	Dukla Trenčín (SVK)
121	Paul Bissonnette (D)	Canada	Pittsburgh Penguins (from Boston Bruins)	Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
122	Corey Potter (D)	United States	New York Rangers (from Edmonton Oilers)	Michigan State University (NCAA)
123	Danny Stewart (LW)	Canada	Montreal Canadiens (from Washington Capitals)	Rimouski Océanic (QMJHL)
124	James Pemberton (D)	United States	Florida Panthers (from Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)	Providence College (NCAA)
125	Konstantin Volkov (RW)	Russia	Toronto Maple Leafs (from Minnesota Wild)	HC Dynamo Moscow (RUS)
126	Kevin Nastiuk (G)	Canada	Carolina Hurricanes (from Toronto Maple Leafs)	Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
127	Alexandre Bolduc (C)	Canada	St. Louis Blues	Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL)
128	Ty Morris (LW)	Canada	Vancouver Canucks	St. Albert (AJHL)
129	Patrik Valcak (RW)	Czech Republic	Boston Bruins (from Philadelphia Flyers)	Ostrava Jr. (CZE)
130	Matej Trojovsky (D)	Czech Republic	Carolina Hurricanes (from Tampa Bay Lightning)	Regina Pats (WHL)
131	David Svagrovsky (RW)	Czech Republic	Colorado Avalanche	Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)
132	Kyle Quincey (D)	Canada	Detroit Red Wings	London Knights (OHL)
133	Rustam Sidikov (G)	Russia	Nashville Predators	CSKA Moscow (RUS)
134	Alexander Naurov (RW)	Russia	Dallas Stars	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (RUS)
135	Mattias Karlsson (D)	Sweden	Ottawa Senators	Brynäs IF (SWE)
136	Michael Vannelli (D)	United States	Atlanta Thrashers (from New Jersey Devils)	Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)

Round 5

#	Player	Nationality	NHL team	College/junior/club team
137	Tyson Strachan (D)	Canada	Carolina Hurricanes	Vernon Vipers (BCHL)
138	Arsi Piispanen (RW)	Finland	Columbus Blue Jackets	Jokerit (SM-liiga)
139	Patrick Ehelechner (G)	Germany	San Jose Sharks	Hannover Scorpions (GER)
140	David Tremblay (G)	Canada	Philadelphia Flyers	Hull Olympiques (QMJHL)
141	Dan Travis (RW)	United States	Florida Panthers	Deerfield Academy (USHS)
142	Tim Cook (D)	United States	Ottawa Senators	River City Lancers (USHL)
143	Greg Moore (RW)	United States	Calgary Flames	University of Maine (NCAA)
144	Eero Kilpelainen (G)	Finland	Dallas Stars	KalPa (SM-liiga)
145	Brett Sterling (LW)	United States	Atlanta Thrashers	Colorado College (NCAA)
146	Mark McCutcheon (C)	United States	Colorado Avalanche	New England Jr Falcons (EJHL)
147	Kalle Olsson (RW)	Sweden	Edmonton Oilers	Frölunda HC (Elitserien)
148	Lee Stempniak (RW)	United States	St. Louis Blues	Dartmouth College (NCAA)
149	Nigel Dawes (LW)	Canada	New York Rangers	Kootenay Ice (WHL)
150	Thomas Morrow (D)	United States	Buffalo Sabres	Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)
151	Lasse Kukkonen (D)	Finland	Chicago Blackhawks	Kärpät (SM-liiga)
152	Brady Murray (C)	Canada	Los Angeles Kings	Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)
153	Mike Brown (G)	United States	Boston Bruins	Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
154	David Rohlfs (RW)	United States	Edmonton Oilers	Compuware (NAHL)
155	Josh Robertson (C)	United States	Washington Capitals	Proctor (USHS)
156	Alexei Ivanov (C)	Russia	Chicago Blackhawks	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (RUS)
157	Marcin Kolusz (F)	Poland	Minnesota Wild	Podhale Nowy Targ (POL)
158	John Mitchell (C)	Canada	Toronto Maple Leafs	Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
159	Chris Beckford-Tseu (G)	Canada	St. Louis Blues	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
160	Nicklas Danielsson (RW)	Sweden	Vancouver Canucks	Brynäs IF (SWE)
161	Evgeni Isakov (LW)