NHL Entry Draft

The NHL Entry Draft is the mechanism in the NHL for teams to select the rights to prospective players.

NHL Draft Busts and Steals

A thing about the NHL draft is that it is often unpredictable in terms of where a player is going to go in his future. When NHL scouts try to scout an up and coming prospect, they try to see whether or not a prospect has the potential to make it to the NHL and, if he has the potential to make it, what role would he play in the future (ex. 4th Line energy forward, 5th/6th Defenseman, 3rd string Goaltender, etc.). Most of the time, scouts are correct in their predictions, and these prospects become what they are labeled, in about 5-7 years time. However, scouts are human and they do make mistakes at times. In some cases, a top-notch prospect who is being dubbed as "The next Mario Lemieux" will become no more than a career minor league journeyman. This career path is going to have a player labeled as a draft "bust" throughout history. Likewise, a prospect that had been shrugged off by scouts as not having an impact in the NHL ends up having a fruitful, and in some cases a Hall of Fame-worthy, career in the league. In this case, a player is considered to be a draft "steal". In every NHL draft there will be at least one draft bust and one draft steal.

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The actual definition of both busts and steals is broad, and everyone has their own opinions about what qualifies a player as a bust or a steal, so it cannot be truly defined in this context. However, it is agreed upon that a draft bust will usually come in the first round of a draft, but if the year's draft is deep (filled with top prospects), early second rounders will be added on. A draft steal will come in the later rounds of the draft, especially in rounds five or later. However, there are players that are considered as steals which are picked in the 2nd-4th rounds.

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For more information, see List of NHL Draft Busts and List of NHL Draft Steals.

Related Topics:
List of NHL Draft Busts - List of NHL Draft Steals

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