Undrafted NHL players are no longer a roster curiosity. ESPN reported that nearly 15% of players who appeared in at least one 2025-26 regular-season game were undrafted, including six players in the Stanley Cup Final.
Undrafted Players Now Form Major NHL Group
According to ESPN Research, undrafted players made up the third-largest group in the NHL this season. First-round picks accounted for 35.65% of players and second-round picks for 16.09%, with undrafted players sitting just behind them.
The rise is not new, but the scale has changed. Undrafted players represented 10.6% of NHL players in 1995-96. By 2015-16, they were 15.35% of the league, nearly level with second-round picks at 15.66%.
The numbers explain why teams, agents and scouting departments treat the post-draft market as more than leftover paperwork. A player not being selected can still become a regular NHL contributor, and in some cases a Stanley Cup Final piece.
Marchment, Panarin And Robinson Show Different NHL Routes
ESPN used several current examples to show how those careers develop. Mason Marchment has played 370 NHL games and averaged 0.63 points per game, more production than several forwards drafted in the first round in his draft year who reached the league.
Artemi Panarin remains the high-end example among active undrafted players cited by ESPN via QuantHockey, averaging 1.15 points per game. Eric Robinson shows another route: he signed with Carolina on a one-year, $950,000 contract for 2024-25, posted 14 goals and 32 points, then earned a four-year deal worth $1.7 million annually in June 2025.
Robinson followed that with 12 goals in 67 regular-season games this season and eight points through 16 playoff games. That is the practical value teams are chasing: not a draft story that sounds nice, but usable NHL minutes when the games become expensive.
Scouting Departments Adjust To Later Development
The positional profile has shifted too. In 1995-96, defensemen were the largest share of undrafted players at 27.47%, followed by right wings, left wings, centers and goaltenders. In 2025-26, centers and defensemen were tied at 26.45% each.
The actual count has also grown. ESPN reported 41 undrafted defensemen and 41 undrafted centers this season, compared with 25 undrafted defensemen and 18 undrafted centers in 1995-96.
Geography has widened as well. In 1995-96, 79% of undrafted NHL players came from Canada and 20% from the United States. This season, ESPN Research found the split at 40% Canada, 40% United States and 20% Europe.
That broader pool puts pressure on scouting departments to keep tracking players after the draft. The NHL draft still matters, obviously, but the evidence is plain enough: teams that stop looking when the final pick is made are leaving useful players for someone else.