Draft steal

A draft steal is a player drafted late in a NHL Entry Draft who ends up enjoying a good career, if not sometimes a stellar one.

It being impossible to perfectly determine how successful a young player will be in the future, it sometimes happen that scouts and management will underestimate the abilities of some youngsters or that they will bloom into a much better player than predicted. The fact that so many rounds have passed between the beginning, where stars are expected to be drafted, and the moment they have been choosen, and that so many teams just overlooked them earn them their name of draft steal.

The opposite of a draft steal is a draft bust.

Draft steal exemples

 * 2005-Patric Hornqvist Nashville Predators (7th round 230th overall)
 * 2003-Jaroslav Halák, Montreal Canadiens (9th round, 271st overall)
 * 2000-Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers (7th round, 205th overall)
 * 1999-Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings (7th round, 210th overall)
 * 1998-Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings (6th round, 171st overall)
 * 1998-Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens (6th round, 162nd overall)
 * 1996-Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs (8th round, 204th overall)
 * 1994-Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators (6th round, 133rd overall)
 * 1994-Tomas Holmström, Detroit Red Wings (10th round, 257 overall)
 * 1993-Pavol Demitra, Ottawa Senators (9th round, 227th overall)
 * 1992-Nikolai Khabibulin, Winnipeg Jets (9th round, 204th overall)
 * 1990-Peter Bondra, Washington Capitals (8th round, 156th overall)
 * 1989-Pavel Bure, Vancouver Canucks (6th round, 113th overall)
 * 1987-Theoren Fleury, Calgary Flames (8th round, 166th overall)
 * 1984-Luc Robitaille, Los Angeles Kings (9th round, 171st overall)
 * 1984-Brett Hull, Calgary Flames (6th round, 117th overall)
 * 1983-Dominik Hasek, Chicago Blackhawks (10th round, 199th overall)
 * 1982-Doug Gilmour, St. Louis Blues (7th round, 134th overall)
 * 1980-Steve Larmer, Chicago Blackhawks (6th round, 120th overall)