Hello! Here's the second part about the NHL late-round gems who are retired for now. The first part of the post you can read here.
Brett Hull - 6th Round, 117th Overall by Calgary Flames in 1984
After the 1984 NHL Draft "The Golden Brett" started to play for the University of Minnesota-Duluth, was an NCAA star and set many school scoring records (in 2006 his jersey number was retired by the university). He joined Calgary Flames in the 1986 Playoffs, but the next season played in the AHL and earned his spot in the Flames’ roster just for 1987-88 season, but at the end of it was traded to the St. Louis Blues. With the Blues Hull became an NHL superstar famous for his shooting, this brilliant sniper scored 50 goals in 50 games in 1990-91 and 1991-92 and lead the league in goalscoring in 1990-92. He was the St. Louis Blues’ captain from 1992 to 1995, and left the team after became an unrestricted free agent in 1998 and moved to Dallas Stars, where he became the Stanley Cup Champion (1999) and played his 1000th career game. It happened on February 25, 2001 in the game against Calgary Flames. The next three years Hull played for the Detroit Red Wings, won his second Stanley Cup in 2002 and finished the professional career with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2005 after just 5 regular season games. His career totals are 1391 points (741+650) in 1269 games, Hull won the Ted Lindsay Award, the Hart Trophy, the Lady Bing Trophy and the Maurice Richard Trophy three times in a row. He also won the World Cup of Hockey in 1996 with the team USA.
In 2009 Brett Hull was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, as his father Bobby, they became the first father-and-son pair of players in the Hall of Fame, and also they are only father and son to score more than 1000 points each in the NHL.
Steve Larmer - 6th Round, 120th Overall by Chicago Blackhawks in 1980
Steve Larmer made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks in1980-1981 season, but in his first and second NHL seasons he played only 7 games. Season 1982-1983 was the first full NHL season for Larmer, he scored 90 points (43+47) in 80 games with Chicago, won the Calder Trophy and was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team. He had a long bright career with the Blackhawks, played in 884 consecutive games from 1982 to 1993 and set an NHL record for most consecutive games played with the same team. Larmer was several times Frank J. Selke Trophy nominee and once - Hart Trophy nominee. After 13 seasons for the Blackhawks, he played two more years for the New York Rangers and won the Stanley Cup in 1994. In 1006 NHL games in his career Larmer scored 1012 points (441+571). Also he’s Canada Cup Champion with team Canada in 1991 (scored 11 points, the second result after Wayne Gretzky) and World Championship Silver Medalist the same year.
Dave Taylor - 15th Round, 210th Overall by Los Angeles Kings in 1975
The future member of the Triple Crown Line along with Marcel Dionne and Charlie Simmer made his NHL debut in 1977, two years after being drafted and after a brilliant season with the Clarkson University. Dave Taylor still holds university records for career and single season points, goals, and assists. From the second season for the Los Angeles Kings he started to score more than a point per game and did this the following seven seasons, and in the 1980–81 season all three members of the Triple Crown Line scored more than 100 points each. Taylor was the captain of the Kings 4 years, in total he played 17 NHL seasons, all in Los Angeles and recorded 1069 points (431+638) in 1111 games. He won the King Clancy Trophy and the Bill Masterton Trophy. After finishing his professional career in 1994, Dave Taylor served as the Los Angeles Kings' General manager (1997-2006), and currently he’s the Vice President of Hockey Operations with the St. Louis Blues.
Gary Suter - 9th Round, 180th Overall by Calgary Flames in 1984
Defenseman Gary Suter played for University of Wisconsin before being drafted as his brothers John and Bob (Olympic Champion, a member of the American "Miracle on Ice"). After finishing his study in 1985 Gary went to Calgary to turn professional and took the place of Kari Eloranta in the defense line, recognized by the head coach as the best defenseman of the Flames. In his rookie season Suter scored 68 points (18+50) in 80 games with +11 and won the Calder Memorial Trophy. The following 8 seasons he continued playing for Calgary as a key defenseman and became the Stanley Cup Champion in 1989. In 1993-94 season he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, spent there four more seasons, then moved to the San Jose Sharks and finished there his career in 2002, recorded 17 NHL seasons totals of 844 points (203+641) in 1145 games. As a member of the USA national team Gary Suter won the inaugural World Cup of Hockey (1996). In 2011 he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
Miikka Kiprusoff - 5th Round, 116th Overall by San Jose Sharks in 1995
Miikka Kiprusoff played for Finnish TPS and Swedish AIK for more years after the 1995 NHL Draft and started his North-American career in the AHL with the Kentucky Thoroughblades. Both AHL years Kipper was a participant of the AHL All-Star Game and in the second half of the 2000-01 season he was called to the San Jose Sharks as a backup for Evgeni Nabokov. In the following two seasons in San Jose he didn’t used opportunities to become a starter and in November 2003 was traded to Calgary Flames after his No.1 goalie Roman Turek got an injury. That season Kiprusoff set an NHL record for GAA (1.69) and helped the Calgary Flames to reach the playoffs for the first time in eight years (Flames played in the Stanley Cup Final later in 2004).
Kipper played for Flames 8 more seasons, in total he had 12 NHL seasons with 2.49 GAA, .912 SV% and 44 shutouts in 623 games, and finished professional career in 2013. He holds franchise records for wins, shutouts and games played by a goaltender, won the Vezina Trophy and the William M. Jennings Trophy. As team Finland goalie Kiprusoff won two silver medals at the World Championships (1999 and 2001), silver medal at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and bronze medal at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.
Pavel Datsyuk - 6th Round, 171st Overall by Detroit Red Wings in 1998
Well, Pavel Datsyuk is still an active player, but not in the NHL and his career is a great one, so I included him to this article.
Currently “The Magic Man” is the captain for SKA Saint Petersburg of the KHL, and his pre-NHL career was also in Russia. He was undrafted both at the 1996 and 1997 NHL Drafts, but after being noticed by Detroit Red Wings scouts in summer 1997, he was picked in 1998. Datsyuk started his NHL career with the Red Wings in 2001 and played on a line with Brett Hull and Boyd Devereaux (a year later Henrik Zetterberg replaced Devereaux in this line). In his 13-seasons-long NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings The Magic Man became the Stanley Cup Champion twice, won the Frank J. Selke Trophy three times in a row, the Lady Byng Trophy four times in a row and recorded 918 points (314+604) in 953 games and +249. He is famous for his game-changing offensive play.
With team Russia Datsyuk won the World Championship in 2012 and Olympic Games in 2018 and joined the Triple Gold Club. Also in his first year with SKA Saint Petersburg he won the main KHL trophy, the Gagarin Cup.
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