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Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen
Not counting goalies, Rafalski 13 years ago might be the earliest. Probably forgetting someone but Rafalski was the last non-drafted "best player not in the NHL" to actually come over and make an impact that I recall.
Edit: Leino has potential to make the list as well I suppose. He dominated his league but wasn't touted as the best player not in the NHL, in fact he was the consolation prize after Detroit lost out on Brunnstrom that year.
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Antti Niemi was a success too. Signed from Finland by Chicago. Same with Nicklas Backstrom, again signed out of Finland by Minnesota. Still, undrafted Europeans/Russians have a low success rate in the NHL, but goalies may be a safer bet. Hopefully one of the goalies Feaster is so high on turn out for us.