From the undrafted, Hart Trophy winning Martin St. Louis to the dynamic, power-forward that is Jamie Benn, the NHL is filled with players who “beat the odds”, so to speak to become more than their draft ranking suggested they would be.
For most teams, it’s easy to pick a Patrick Kane or a John Tavares first overall (well, except the Oilers apparently), and first round picks who fail to reach the NHL are becoming increasingly rare.
That makes finding players who blossom into stars in the fourth round or later all the more valuable.
The Detroit Red Wings have basically built an entire organization on late-round picks. Henrik Zetterberg (7th), Pavel Datsyuk (6th), Jonathan Ericsson (9th), Tomas Holmstrom (10th) and even former MVP Sergei Fedorov (4th) were all drafted late.
So who is part of the next wave of late-round picks who are unexpectedly rising NHL stars?