NHL Draft - Late Round Steals

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Not every NHL star came into the League as a highly touted Draft pick. In fact, several prominent stars such as future Hall of Famer and 600-goal scorer Luc Robitaille have been selected very late in the Draft. Others weren't drafted at all.

The tables below illustrate some of these "dark horse" success stories, including players like Ed Belfour and Curtis Joseph, two of the top goalies in the entire NHL.


Dark Horse Draft Selections Undrafted NHL Talent Highest Drafted Goaltenders


Dark Horse Entry Draft Selections
Player Pick Year Drafted By
Jonathan Ericsson 291st 2002 Detroit
Brian Elliott 291st 2003 Ottawa
Jannik Hansen 287th 2004 Vancouver
Adam Burish 282nd 2002 Chicago
Jaroslav Halak 271st 2003 Montreal
Matt Moulson 263rd 2003 Pittsburgh
Mark Streit 262nd 2004 Montreal
Pekka Rinne 258th 2004 Nashville
Dustin Byfuglien 245th 2003 Chicago
Patric Hornqvist 230th 2005 Nashville
Pavol Demitra 227th 1993 Ottawa
Vladimir Konstantinov 221st 1989 Detroit
Anson Carter 220th 1992 Quebec
Johan Hedberg 218th 1994 Philadelphia
Dave Taylor 210th 1975 Los Angeles
Ondrej Palat 208th 2011 Tampa Bay
Dominik Hasek 207th 1983 Chicago
Anders Lindback 207th 2008 Nashville
Henrik Lundqvist 205th 2000 New York Rangers
Joe Pavelski 205th 2003 San Jose
Sergei Kostitsyn 200th 2005 Montreal
Arturs Irbe 196th 1989 Minnesota
Brooks Laich 193rd 2001 Ottawa
Vladimir Malakhov 191st 1989 NY Islanders
Mark Stone 178th 2010 Ottawa
Ryane Clowe 175th 2001 San Jose
Luc Robitaille 171st 1984 Los Angeles
Theoren Fleury 166th 1987 Calgary
John-Michael Liles 159th 2000 Colorado
Peter Bondra 156th 1990 Washington
Brendan Gallagher 147th 2010 Montreal
Andrew Shaw 139th 2011 Chicago
Doug Gilmour 134th 1982 St. Louis
Kris Versteeg 134th 2004 Boston
Daniel Alfredsson 133rd 1994 Ottawa
Jamie Benn 129th 2007 Dallas
Steve Larmer 120th 1980 Chicago
Brett Hull 117th 1984 Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau 104th 2011 Calgary
Johan Franzen 97th 2004 Detroit
Valtteri Filppula 95th 2002 Detroit
Jonathan Quick 72nd 2005 Los Angeles
Cal Clutterbuck 72nd 2006 Minnesota
Frederik Andersen 87th 2012 Anaheim

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Recent Undrafted Talent That Played in the NHL
Signed Player Year signed
 By Last Amateur Club
Niklas Backstrom 2006 MIN Karpat Oulu (FIN)
Sergei Bobrovsky 2010 PHI Novokuznetsk (RUS)
Rene Bourque 2004 CHI University of Wisconsin
Dan Boyle 1998 FLA Miami University
Tyler Bozak 2009 TOR University of Denver
Alexandre Burrows 2005 VAN Manitoba, AHL
David Clarkson 2005 NJD Kitchener, OHL
Danny DeKeyser 2013 DET Western Michigan University
Mark Giordano 2004 CGY Owen Sound, OHL
Jonas Hiller 2007 ANA Davos (SUI)
Tyler Johnson 2011 TBL Spokane, WHL
Torey Krug 2011 BOS Michigan State University
Chris Kunitz 2003 ANA Ferris State University
Ville Leino 2008 DET Jokerit (FIN)
Antti Niemi 2008 CHI Pelicans (FIN)
Dustin Penner 2004 ANA University of Maine
Teddy Purcell 2007 LAK University of Maine
Martin St. Louis 1998 CGY University of Vermont
Chris Tanev 2010 VAN Rochester Institute of Technology

Despite their vital importance to the success of every NHL team, goaltenders are not often selected very high in the Entry Draft. In fact, some of the best goalies in the game today weren't high picks at all. Ed Belfour, who backstopped the Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup in 1998-99, was undrafted coming out of the University of North Dakota.

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Highest Drafted Goaltenders
Player Pick Year Drafted By
Michel Plasse 1st 1968 Montreal
Rick DiPietro 1st 2000 NY Islanders
Marc-Andre Fleury 1st 2003 Pittsburgh
Kari Lehtonen 2nd 2002 Atlanta
Roberto Luongo 4th 1997 NY Islanders
Ray Martyniuk 5th 1970 Montreal
John Davidson 5th 1973 St. Louis
Tom Barrasso 5th 1983 Buffalo
Carey Price 5th 2005 Montreal
Michel Larocque 6th 1972 Montreal
Brian Finley 6th 1999 Nashville
Al Montoya 6th 2004 NY Rangers
Jamie Storr 7th 1994 Los Angeles
Grant Fuhr 8th 1981 Edmonton
Pascal Leclaire 8th 2001 Columbus
Jimmy Waite 8th 1987 Chicago

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