The most uninspired prospect who's become a good/great player in the last 10 years

[57special]

Jake Middleton was Mr. irellevant in his draft. Last guy picked. Played next to no NHL games till he was 26 yo. He is now a legit top 4 Dman.

 

[LeProspector]

Nick Paul for me.

 

[Kegs]

Knies.

 

[The Puckhound]

Not sure if he's been mentioned but Devon Toews...blossomed into a top pair D and didn't even get drafted till his Draft +2 year and went in the mid-rounds

 

[Bubbles]

Mark Streit comes to mind.

Went from being drafted in the 9th (!) round as an unknown 21 y old overager playing in Switzerland, to getting to play in the NHL sometimes as a 4th line forward with Montreal... to becoming an all-star D making 40+ millions USD in the NHL over his career.

Not bad.

He was actually 26 when he was drafted. Different rules back in the day.

 

[stevo61]

Voronkov and Protas came up out of nowhere for most people

 

[Kevinsane]

Alex Burrows was undrafted.

 

[WatchfulElm]

I remember not understanding why a guy like Jonas Siegenthaler, who could barely produce any point at any level, would get drafted in the 2nd round.

He finally became a defensive stud and even registered a 21 points season in the NHL, which is the most points he's even produced in any league since age 13.

I suppose that's why scouting matters more than stats watching.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Brad Marchant was a 3rd Round pick who was viewed as a potential energy guy on a 4th line. Thats certainly what I viewed him as - even after a solid WJC contribution.

Slowly but surely he added skills, confidence, panache. It culminated in being chosen to play in the Olympics, on a first line no less with Berg and Sid.

Suddenly his confidence was sky high. And he was the legit suoerstar we have today.

I never saw this coming. But I did think he would play in the show as a high-end mucker.

One of the weirdest arcs. I remember waking up one day and the guy who was Sean Avery part 2 was all of a sudden a superstar.

 

[seafoam]

Does Palat qualify? Last guy taken in his draft year I believe.

Wasn’t Pavelski pretty close to being last as well?

He also was voted the best D at that year's World Juniors.

Yeah I remember watching him at the WJC thinking there was a good shot at this guy becoming an NHLer in some capacity.