Quote:
Originally Posted by druetetective
Those are 2 examples. Another poster said only 2 players drafted in the first or second round that failed to put up PPG made the show.
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Why are we restricting ourselves to 1st/2nd rounders exactly? Although that claim is not true, unless you're talking about guys who didn't start college until they were older anyways. But just because, I went and looked up the list of NCAA NHLers and focused on 1st/2nd rounders. The following forwards all played in college, and all were
under a PPG at age 20 or less:
1st Rounders:
Kevin Hayes
Ryan Kesler
Blake Wheeler
Kyle Palmieri
Riley Nash
Riley Sheahan
Eric Nystrom
Charlie Coyle
2nd Rounders
Justin Abdelkader
Mason Raymond
Jimmy Hayes
Tim Jackman
All these guys are NHLers. Maybe not a list of superstars, but not many 21st overalls are superstars anyways. It's certainly not a list of scrubs.
But limiting it to 1st/2nd rounders is an arbitrary criteria anyways. Just as Gaudreau was a 4th rounder plenty of guys have been later draft picks, not put up the best numbers at age 20, yet proceeded to find their game. David Jones was a 9th rounder and didn't hit PPG until he was 21 but ended up having a 27 goal season in the NHL.