from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,

In 2008, the first year Tyler Johnson was eligible for the NHL Draft, he was not among the 211 players who had their names called.

Twenty-nine teams are regretting this decision.

In 2014-15, the 25-year-old Johnson was one of the catalysts behind Tampa Bay’s run to the Stanley Cup Final. As the second-line center between Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov, Johnson scored 29 goals and 43 assists, tied with Steven Stamkos for the team lead with 72 points. Johnson scored a team-best 23 points in the playoffs. He is under contract for the next two seasons at a bargain price of $3,333,333 annually.

Bagging home-run players such as Johnson and filling out their rosters is why teams invest viewings in players who have aged out of their drafts.

The Flames (Mark Giordano), Rangers (Mats Zuccarello), Red Wings (Danny DeKeyser), and Canadiens (David Desharnais) are some of the clubs that are very pleased that high-end players sometimes slip through the draft filter.

The Bruins have had results signing undrafted players, too. They landed Torey Krug as a free agent out of Michigan State. Kevan Miller signed with the Bruins after completing four seasons at the University of Vermont. They’ve added prospects Joonas Kemppainen, Austin Czarnik, and Noel Acciari to their player pool.

In all of those cases, they didn’t have to use precious draft capital to secure their rights. In that way, signing undrafted players is the most efficient method of team-building.

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