2010: Stephen Johns (RD) at 60th overall to the Chicago Blackhawks
Current status: Retired
Peak status: NHL bottom-pair D/AHL top-pair D
The idea of Stephen Johns is something that every old-school GM drools over. A 6-foot-4, 234-pound right-handed defenceman who plays an honest, physical game (Craig Berube, you would have loved him). Unfortunately, the reality of Stephen Johns never translated to much in the NHL. He never played a game for the Blackhawks, who traded him to the Dallas Stars along with Patrick Sharp in 2014. The peak of his career came in the back half of the 2010s, joining the Stars for a 13-game playoff run in 2015-16 and appearing in four games on their Cup final run in 2019-20. Unfortunately, concussions caught up to him and recurring symptoms forced him into an early retirement following the 2020-21 season.
2011: Mario Lucia (LW) at 60th overall to the Minnesota Wild
Current status: Retired
Peak status: AHL middle-six forward
Without beating around the bush, the selection of Lucia by the Wild in 2011 was a whiff. He was drafted out of the U.S. National Team Development Program, has one stellar BCHL season in his post-draft year, put together a nice college career, but never advanced past the AHL. He wrapped up his hockey career with one near point-per-game season in Denmark before riding off into the sunset.
2012: Damon Severson (RD) at 60th overall to the New Jersey Devils
Current/peak status: NHL top-four D
As this list will go to show, if you draft somebody like Damon Severson at 60th overall, you succeeded. Even though Severson isn’t the shiniest toy in the NHL, draft picks outside of the first round are essentially lottery picks. The Wild took Lucia and didn’t get a single NHL game out of him. The Devils got nine full seasons out of Severson in their top-four before trading him to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 2023 sign-and-trade. Severson is still a top-4 NHL defenceman today, with 32 points in 71 games for the Blue Jackets in 2025-26.
2013: Linus Arnesson (LD) at 60th overall to the Boston Bruins
Current/peak status: SHL bottom-pair D
Just like that, we go from a defenceman with over 800 NHL games at 60th overall one year to another player who never made his NHL debut the next. A defensive defenceman by trade, Arnesson played in two World Junior tournaments for Team Sweden and spent two seasons in the AHL before heading back to his homeland where he remains today.
2014: Alex Lintuniemi (LD) at 60th overall to the Los Angeles Kings
Current/peak status: AHL top-four D
Lintuniemi is another player who was drafted for his defensive abilities but couldn’t translate them to the NHL. Still, while the Kings don’t have a ton to write home about from this pick, the Finnish defenceman parlayed it into a career playing hockey around the world, including stops in Finland, Russia, Kazhakstan, and Czechia, where he continues to play today.
2015: Oliver Kylington (LD) at 60th overall to the Calgary Flames
Current status: SHL top-four D
Peak status: NHL top-four D
There was a time when Oliver Kylington was expected to be a top five pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. His production didn’t take the step forward many were anticipating in his draft year, but the skill made him worth a flier for the Flames. He remained in the Flames organization as an on-again-off-again player, with his best season coming in 2021-22 after recording 31 points in 73 games. He missed the 2022-23 season to attend to his mental health, returned in 2023-24, spent 2024-25 split with the Anaheim Ducks and Colorado Avalanche, and signed a one-year contract in the SHL in 2025-26, where he is today.
2016: Dylan Gambrell (C) at 60th overall to the San Jose Sharks
Current status: AHL top-six F
Peak status: NHL 4th line F
Gambrell hasn’t had a decorated NHL career by any means, but again, if you draft somebody beyond the first round who turns into an NHLer at any point, it should be seen a win. The peak of his career so far came between 2019 and 2021, when he was a fourth-liner for the Sharks and then the Ottawa Senators. He was with the Toronto Marlies for the 2023-24 season, and most recently wrapped up a solid point-per-game season with the Iowa Wild, AHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild.
2017: Antoine Morand (C) at 60th overall to the Anaheim Ducks
Current status: Liiga middle-six F
Peak status: AHL middle-six F
Morand was a star forward in junior, putting together four seasons over a point-per-game in the QMJHL, but it never translated to the NHL, or even the AHL. He spent three seasons in the AHL split between the affiliates of the Ducks and the Tampa Bay Lightning before packing up for Finland in 2022-23, where he remains today.
2018: David Gustafsson (C) at 60th overall to the Winnipeg Jets
Current status: AHL top-six F
Peak status: NHL 4th line F
Gustafsson had played parts of the last six seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, primarily on their fourth line, but never played more than 46 games in a season. The 2025-26 season was the first since 2019-20 that he didn’t appear in any NHL games, but he’s proven to still be effective in a top-six AHL role, so it’s pretty clear that he’s already maxed out his NHL potential.
2019: Albert Johansson (D) at 60th overall to the Detroit Red Wings
Current status: NHL bottom-pair D
As we get closer and closer to the present, we’re going to see less “peak status” and more “current status” as the players get younger and more entrenched in prospect territory. Johansson took a bit to get to the NHL, but he’s established himself as, at minimum, a bottom-pair NHL defenceman. Johansson just completed his second full season with the Red Wings, mostly skating with fellow young Swede Axel-Sandin Pelikka, and has proven to be a player the Red Wings can rely on to grow.
2020: Will Cuylle (C) at 60th overall to the New York Rangers
Current status: NHL middle-six F
Just looking at the players taken in the second round of the 2020 NHL Draft, it’s clear that Cuylle was one of the hits. He was a star in junior, a star in his one year of AHL hockey, and he’s scored 20 goals in each of the latter two years of his three NHL seasons so far. He compares his playing style to the Tom Wilson/Jamie Benn type and should be a foundational middle-six piece for the Rangers for years to come.
2021: J.J. Moser (D) at 60th overall to the Arizona Coyotes
Current status: NHL top-four D
I was a big fan of Moser in his draft year, and I’m feeling especially vindicated for it now. Moser wasted very little time taking his talents from Switzerland to the NHL after recording 30 points in 48 games in his draft year, and he’s essentially been an NHLer ever since. He was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a deal involving Mikhail Sergachev back in 2024, and between him and Darren Raddysh, picked up a lot of the slack with Victor Hedman missing time in 2025-26.
2022: Gleb Trikozov (LW) at 60th overall to the Carolina Hurricanes
Current status: AHL bottom-six F
Trikozov is technically still a prospect, but the 21-year-old prospect will have an uphill trek if he wants to work himself back into the discussion among Hurricanes top prospects. He just wrapped up his second AHL season and finished with just 11 points in 46 games. A breakout season in the near future could help his consideration as a top-10 prospect for the Hurricanes, but he’s not there right now.
2023: Damian Clara (G) at 60th overall to the Anaheim Ducks
Current status: Organizational prospect
You might recognize Clara’s name from the Olympics where he posted a hilariously lopsided .911 save percentage for Italy with a goals-against average of 5.13. The extremely rare Italian prospect is currently in the Anaheim Ducks organization and will begin his first full AHL season in 2026-27. His future in Anaheim will be questionable given what Lukas Dostal has done in the NHL so far, but there’s still potential there.
2024: Evan Gardner (G) at 60th overall to the Columbus Blue Jackets
Current status: Top-10 organizational prospect
Gardner looks like a worthy gamble to have taken at 60th overall so far, especially when you consider the fact that you can never have too many goalies. He’ll be in tough to secure a job with the Blue Jackets as of right now, given that Jet Greaves is playing NHL games for them and Pyotr Andreonov is higher on the prospect rankings, but he’ll begin his rookie season with the Cleveland Monsters in 2026-27 where he could shape that trajectory with a successful season.
2025: Lasse Boelius (LD) at 60th overall to the Anaheim Ducks
Current status: Organizational prospect
It’s simply too early to determine what might come of Boelius, but he just wrapped up his rookie season in Finland’s pro league and probably sits somewhere between 10th and 20th on the Ducks’ prospect lists.
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