Crazy stat from the Expansion Draft uncovers the NHL’s biggest busts

When the NHL officially released the protected list for each of its current 30 franchises, fans and analysts poured over each one highlighting the best players available to the NHL’s newest team, the Vegas Golden Knights. Among the names are some promising, young talents who could form the foundation for the team’s core moving forward. Also, among the names? Some of the biggest busts and failed prospects over the past five years. In fact, one crazy statistic proves that the 2012 NHL Entry Draft was a failure of epic proportions: 

Unbelievable. Just five years ago if you had a prospect pool that featured Nail Yakupov up front with Griffin Reinhart, Matt Dumba, Derrick Pouliot and Salter Koekkoek on the back end, you’d be the envy of every NHL team. Now… well Vegas can take those guys for free. It’s amazing how quickly things can change in the NHL and it just goes to show, especially in the case of Yakupov, how important proper development can be to a player’s future.

Here’s to hoping that each of these players gets a second (or third!) shot at NHL glory in 2017-18.