Thursday, 06.24.2010 / 2:29 PM / 2010 NHL Entry Draft
By John Kreiser - NHL.com Columnist

NHL teams expect their top draft picks to become impact players, if not stars. In fact, picking a few first-rounders who don't make impacts can go a long way in sending a team toward the bottom of the standings.

But as the Chicago Blackhawks showed in winning the Stanley Cup this spring, getting production from players picked at the draft who were household names only in their own households is important as well.

Chicago had three of its own first-round picks -- Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook -- in the lineup for the Cup-winning, 4-3 overtime victory against the Philadelphia Flyers. But the Hawks that night also had two players -- Dustin Byfuglien and Troy Brouwer -- who were picked in the seventh round or later: Byfuglien was chosen No. 245 in 2003, while Brouwer was No. 214 in 2004. Adam Burish, who played earlier in the Final but sat out the final three games of the series, was taken with the 282nd pick in 2002.

The Hawks are just the latest example of the importance of adding those under-the-radar players in building a winning team in today’s NHL.

Detroit's nucleus includes stars such as Pavel Datsyuk (No. 171 in 1998) and Henrik Zetterberg (No. 210 in 1999). San Jose's Joe Pavelski (No. 205 in 2003) was the Sharks' big gun through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

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