12 of the top 15 point leaders currently were top 10 picks

[Breakfast of Champs]

To add to this , 9 were top 5. Another note is that among the 3 outliers, 2 are Russian and likely fell in the draft because of this. Bratt is the only non Russian non top 10 pick among them.

Goes to show that elite offensive players are generally identified at an early age, and the importance of hitting on top 10 picks is huge


Edit : Necas was picked 12th not 10th like I originally thought

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[FoxyClean]

This just in:
Current elite players also used to be elite players.

 

[Clam Jensen]

Jesper Bratt is himothy

 

[Stickpucker]

Necas while close wasn't top 10 and he while eastern European isn't Russian.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

Necas while close wasn't top 10 and he while eastern European isn't Russian.

Kaprizov and Kucherov were the 2 Russians, my bad I thought Necas went 10th but upon checking he was 12th, that's my mistake

 

[DitchMarner]

It feels like this wouldn't have been the case very often if at all in the late 90s to mid 00s (when guys like Rupp, Rasmussen, Beech, Pyatt and Svitov were top ten picks).

Is it me or do top ten drafted forwards often turn out to be productive NHL players these days?