The Florida Panthers best “under the radar” prospect

It’s rare to hit on late-round draft picks.

Ask hockey professionals or even the statisticians.

Once you arrive at the 4th or 5th round, it’s proven that a heavy element of randomness comes into play. The odds that a 4th or 5th rounder plays at least 50 NHL games are virtually the same as a 6th or 7th rounder.

On the flip side, prospects taken in the first three rounds of the draft have much higher odds of having NHL careers, and therefore more time is spent scouting them, learning about them, writing about them, talking about them, providing resources to them, marketing them.