Mythical creature, sort of like the minotaur, but better hands
We've gone over this though and we've had a very successful player that did exactly this in Jake Muzzin. I even went through several examples and all but one pulled off careers (Edit: and that one is still likely to have an NHL career, he just hasn't cracked in yet).
Plagiarizing myself:
"Muzzin missed an entire season. Season and a half, actually.
"When Muzzin was 16, his hockey career was derailed after he suffered a herniated disc. He underwent surgery to repair the precarious ailment and wound up missing more than a year of action.
“For a little bit it kind of felt that hockey was done for me,” he said. “It was a difficult time and it made me not take hockey for granted.
“When you’re that young and out for over a year with a back injury it’s a difficult situation to deal with.”
But Muzzin had belief in the surgeon and the recovery plan. He returned in time to play the final 37 games for the 2006-07 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and two rounds of the playoffs. He exhibited enough for the Pittsburgh Penguins to select Muzzin in the fifth round (141st overall) of the 2007 draft.
But the teenager failed to demonstrate enough in the next two seasons of junior for the Penguins to sign him to an entry-level contract. Therefore, Muzzin re-entered the draft in 2009, but his name wasn’t called as he sat through seven rounds and 211 selections."
Long and winding path leads to veteran status for Muzzin"
