Yup.... keep going until you get to Marty St Louis' stats
- bluewaffle

Then keep looking and see Adam Oates with 400+ more than St. Louis.

This is the correct answer and it's not even close
- bluewaffle

Getting eaten up by the big dogs.
Don't bring a peashooter to a gunfight.

Peter Statsny is my pick for the greatest undrafted player of all time. Just under 1250 points and over 800 pims in under 1000 games while dealing with defecting from home as a 24 year old makes him a top candidate. Adam Oates, Marty St. Louis and Ed Belfour are 2-4 making Panarin a top 5 only if he puts up another 10 years of his current production.

Bednar snubbed on Jack Adams. Coached an injury riddled team to a top 4 finish. Pretty criminal imo

Borje Salming is the best undrafted player. He was first European player of prominence. To this day Swedish players consider him an icon. Referred to by his teammates as "The King", Salming is a member of the HHOF. Growing up playing street and ice hockey, he was my idol.

Well, considering this isn't a trick question because the first draft was in 1963 - so technically all players that played before 1963 were "undrafted".. This is a pretty difficult and subjective question... I mean there isn't just "one" undrafted best player of all time, there have been many, so I'm going to break it up between forwards, defenseman and goalies. Not only that but NHL service time needs to be taken into account... I mean sure a guy can go undrafted play 300 games in the league over 5 seasons, put up 423 points over that span, but was he really the best undrafted player ever? he only played 300 games, sure that's a decent career but compared to undrafted PPG players that played over 1,000 games in the league over 20 seasons?

The best current undrafted player in the NHL is without question Artemi Panarin, but all-time???


Goalies

Ed Belfour - Top 10 goalie All-Time - HOF'er
Curtis Joseph - Top 25 goalie All-Time - 454 wins, should be in the HOF

Forwards

Peter Statsny - Top 100 forward all-time - HOF
Dino Ciccarelli - One of the greatest pests that could score of all-time - HOF
Adam Oates - Top 10 Play Maker Post Expansion, top 100-skater all-time - HOF
Martin St. Louis - Top 100 forward all-time - HOF
Joey Mullen - One of the better players of the late 80's to mid 90's - HOF
Tim Kerr - The best undrafted pure goal scorer ever, unfortunately he played the least amount of games on this list.
Kevin Stevens - Another power forward who could be the best player on the ice at times - would be in the HOF right now if he played more games and didn't suffer from off-ice issues.
Mike Ridley - A profoundly underrated player, near PPG in his career who played in an era with so much talent that his own talent is/was overshadowed.
Steve "Stumpy" Thomas - Another profoundly underrated player like Ridley you don't hear much about because of the era he played in.

Defenseman

Borje Salming - HOF
Charlie Huddy - Top 4 D - Cups
Marty McSorley - Top 4 D - Cups
Steve Duchesne - Top 4 D - Cups
Brian Rafalski - Top 4 D - Cups
Mark Giordano - Top 4 D - No Cups but one of the best undrafted defenseman without a Stanley Cup.

Enforcer, Fighter

Nick Fotiu -- There are tons to chose from but I just picked one.

Like I said - this is a profoundly subjective subject, but if I was starting a franchise and I had to pick a player in his youth/prime - I would have to go with Peter Stastny - because he's a guy you can build a franchise around... But if you're a GM that builds from goaltending outward like many GM's do - you have to go with Belfour..

hahahah

What about a guy named Martin St. Louis? 11 20-goal seasons (easily could be 13-15 if health & lockouts didn't come into play). 1000 points, a Stanley cup, Olympics

Heck, Chris Kunitz won 4 Stanley cups in the past 13 years; let Parnain win 1 before we declare him the "best undrafted NHL player"

my 2 cents
- AlfieisKing

Because winning a Stanley Cup is the best way to rank an individual player.

Kris Draper > Jaromir Jagr

Greatest undrafted of all time
Jean Beliveau {drop the mic}
20 years played 10 cups
1125 games played-507 goals-712 assists-1219 pts
162 playoff games 176 playoff pts

Greatest undrafted of all time
Jean Beliveau {drop the mic}
20 years played 10 cups
1125 games played-507 goals-712 assists-1219 pts
162 playoff games 176 playoff pts
- Dr. Pepper

Hard to rank anyone prior to 1967, when NHL teams could sponsor junior clubs, could sign players prior to their draft (Montreal being the largest beneficiary with their right of first refusal for all Quebec-born players). Guys like Beliveau, Richard, Howe, Orr, etc. would all be high picks in their draft years.

I believe Tim Kerr wasn't drafted. Though a long time ago, he was one of the best Flyers of all time.
Had his career not had injuries, he was heading toward the HOF. He was a dominate player that could not be contained. Like Phil Esposito.
Hard to contain big players.

This x 💯

Philippe myers or yegor zamula...pick either one!!!

Both sure fire, multiple Cup Hall of Famers!!!

Toss up between St Louis or Oates for me

Dino Ciccarelli


source

hockey hall of fame
- homiedclown

Just for one quote...

I can't believe I shook his Friggin hand.

Well, considering this isn't a trick question because the first draft was in 1963 - so technically all players that played before 1963 were "undrafted".. This is a pretty difficult and subjective question... I mean there isn't just "one" undrafted best player of all time, there have been many, so I'm going to break it up between forwards, defenseman and goalies. Not only that but NHL service time needs to be taken into account... I mean sure a guy can go undrafted play 300 games in the league over 5 seasons, put up 423 points over that span, but was he really the best undrafted player ever? he only played 300 games, sure that's a decent career but compared to undrafted PPG players that played over 1,000 games in the league over 20 seasons?

The best current undrafted player in the NHL is without question Artemi Panarin, but all-time???


Goalies

Ed Belfour - Top 10 goalie All-Time - HOF'er
Curtis Joseph - Top 25 goalie All-Time - 454 wins, should be in the HOF

Forwards

Peter Statsny - Top 100 forward all-time - HOF
Dino Ciccarelli - One of the greatest pests that could score of all-time - HOF
Adam Oates - Top 10 Play Maker Post Expansion, top 100-skater all-time - HOF
Martin St. Louis - Top 100 forward all-time - HOF
Joey Mullen - One of the better players of the late 80's to mid 90's - HOF
Tim Kerr - The best undrafted pure goal scorer ever, unfortunately he played the least amount of games on this list.
Kevin Stevens - Another power forward who could be the best player on the ice at times - would be in the HOF right now if he played more games and didn't suffer from off-ice issues.
Mike Ridley - A profoundly underrated player, near PPG in his career who played in an era with so much talent that his own talent is/was overshadowed.
Steve "Stumpy" Thomas - Another profoundly underrated player like Ridley you don't hear much about because of the era he played in.

Defenseman

Borje Salming - HOF
Charlie Huddy - Top 4 D - Cups
Marty McSorley - Top 4 D - Cups
Steve Duchesne - Top 4 D - Cups
Brian Rafalski - Top 4 D - Cups
Mark Giordano - Top 4 D - No Cups but one of the best undrafted defenseman without a Stanley Cup.

Enforcer, Fighter

Nick Fotiu -- There are tons to chose from but I just picked one.

Like I said - this is a profoundly subjective subject, but if I was starting a franchise and I had to pick a player in his youth/prime - I would have to go with Peter Stastny - because he's a guy you can build a franchise around... But if you're a GM that builds from goaltending outward like many GM's do - you have to go with Belfour..



- Savard2Secord

impressive list and thanks for the time put in to get this done.

The goalie.
- gergeswillems

okay he was talking about guys who were better right now than Panarin and, I mean, goalie backstrom hasn't played in the nhl in 4 years.

Also as much as I love Panarin, can we take a step back and acknowledge the ridiculousness of this statement from the blog?

He is … still VERY young in his development

Like, Panarin is great and I think he’s probably got at least a couple of dominant seasons left in the tank, but to call a guy who will be 29 by the time games start next season (if they even do) and has 11 full seasons under his belt at the KHL or NHL level “young in his development” is pretty ludicrous.

Panarin has almost certainly peaked. The question is how long he can stay at or near that level.

Martin St. Louis. Case closed.
- AdamFrench

Yup

Just for one quote...

I can't believe I shook his Friggin hand.
- dragonoffrost

Claude Lemieux.

Also as much as I love Panarin, can we take a step back and acknowledge the ridiculousness of this statement from the blog?



Like, Panarin is great and I think he’s probably got at least a couple of dominant seasons left in the tank, but to call a guy who will be 29 by the time games start next season (if they even do) and has 11 full seasons under his belt at the KHL or NHL level “young in his development” is pretty ludicrous.

Panarin has almost certainly peaked. The question is how long he can stay at or near that level.
- Sven22

Panarin has only been in the NHL for 5 seasons. So he must be like 23 or 24. Ok, maybe 25 or 26 because I do know he played in the KHL first. Oh wait, I actually don't know what I'm talking about. He's almost 29. But a young 29.

Panarin has only been in the NHL for 5 seasons. So he must be like 23 or 24. Ok, maybe 25 or 26 because I do know he played in the KHL first. Oh wait, I actually don't know what I'm talking about. He's almost 29. But a young 29.
- Kooleus

Maybe Ek thinks Panarin is still in his early 20s because he's only played a few seasons in the Eastern Conference. Perhaps he never saw Panarin playing in Chicago for 2 seasons. Since Ek doesn't watch Western Conference hockey, it's understandable.

As Panarin continues his development playing for the Rangers in the Eastern Conference, Ek will get to know him better. He'll be entering his prime at 35 just like a young Richard Park once did. Panarin played 7 years in the KHL so maybe he's actually 22 in real hockey years. I think Ek is right about this. Or maybe 29 is the new 22?

The goalie.
- gergeswillems

Whoops!!

Marty St.Louis, all the way !!

Adam Oates for forward
Mark Giordano for D

Best undrafted player:
Mark Giordano, a Norris trophy winner #1 defensman plays in all situations and against all opposing teams best players