The best NHL players drafted in the 5th round break the pattern of every other round, because the round’s strongest group does not score at all. Only eleven fifth-round skaters in draft history have reached 500 career points. 16 fifth-round goaltenders have won 100 NHL games.
The best 5th round NHL draft picks, ranked by points
Careers complete, so none of these figures can move.
| Player | Draft | Overall pick | Games | Points | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Mogilny | 1988 | 89 | 990 | 1032 | RUS |
| Ray Ferraro | 1982 | 88 | 1258 | 898 | CAN |
| Butch Goring | 1969 | 51 | 1107 | 888 | CAN |
| Thomas Steen | 1979 | 103 | 950 | 817 | SWE |
| Sergei Zubov | 1990 | 85 | 1068 | 771 | RUS |
| Miroslav Satan | 1993 | 111 | 1050 | 735 | SVK |
| Garry Galley | 1983 | 100 | 1149 | 600 | CAN |
| Petr Klima | 1983 | 86 | 786 | 573 | CZE |
| Mike Rogers | 1974 | 77 | 484 | 519 | CAN |
Alexander Mogilny is the only fifth-round skater ever to pass 1,000 points, which he did in 990 games, and he is one of the round’s two inducted skaters. The other is Sergei Zubov, a defenseman whose 771 points came with 619 assists.
Eleven fifth-round skaters have passed 500 points and nine of them have finished, which is why the table above is nine rows long. Either number is a short list for a whole round, and that is the honest summary of the fifth round as a source of scoring. The fourth round produced 28 skaters above 500 points.
The 5th round NHL draft picks who played in goal
| Goaltender | Draft | Overall pick | Games | Wins | Shutouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Miller | 1999 | 138 | 796 | 391 | 44 |
| Miikka Kiprusoff | 1995 | 116 | 623 | 319 | 44 |
| Billy Smith | 1970 | 59 | 679 | 305 | 22 |
| Mike Smith | 2001 | 161 | 670 | 299 | 44 |
| Marty Turco | 1994 | 124 | 543 | 275 | 41 |
| Gilles Meloche | 1970 | 70 | 788 | 270 | 20 |
| Tommy Salo | 1993 | 118 | 526 | 210 | 37 |
| Don Edwards | 1975 | 89 | 459 | 208 | 16 |
| Petr Mrazek | 2010 | 141 | 438 | 183 | 26 |
| Chris Terreri | 1983 | 85 | 406 | 151 | 9 |
| Mike Palmateer | 1974 | 85 | 356 | 149 | 17 |
| Brent Johnson | 1995 | 129 | 309 | 140 | 14 |
| Chris Mason | 1995 | 122 | 317 | 137 | 23 |
| Andrew Raycroft | 1998 | 135 | 280 | 113 | 9 |
Ryan Miller won 391 games from pick 138, deep into a round that ran to pick 140 or beyond in most drafts he could have been taken in. Miikka Kiprusoff went 116th and won 319. Mike Smith went 161st and won 299.
Billy Smith is the round’s Hall of Famer, taken 59th in 1970, and his 305 wins came with four Stanley Cups on Long Island. He is the only inducted fifth-round goaltender.
Why the best NHL players drafted late so often play goal
The pattern across the late rounds is consistent enough to be worth stating as a rule of thumb, not a curiosity.
Goaltending is the position teams are worst at predicting. A fifth-round goaltender who develops into a starter is not a rare accident but a recurring event: 16 of the 63 fifth-round goaltenders who reached the NHL went on to win 100 games, which is better than one in four. Among fifth-round skaters, eleven of 428 reached 500 points.
Put plainly, a late goaltending pick has historically been a better bet than a late skater pick.
How many 5th round NHL draft picks reach the NHL
428 skaters and 63 goaltenders from fifth rounds have played an NHL game. Of those 491 players, 22 skaters reached 400 points and 16 goaltenders won 100 games.
Three are in the Hockey Hall of Fame: Mogilny, Zubov, and Billy Smith. The fifth round covered picks from 51st overall, where Butch Goring went in 1969, to 161st, where Mike Smith went in 2001, so the label again describes a team’s own order of preference rather than a fixed depth. Thomas Steen went 103rd in the 1979 draft, which ran only six rounds and 126 picks in total.
The best NHL players drafted in the 5th round who have not finished yet
Four fifth-round picks are still adding to their totals, and two of them would change the tables above.
Jamie Benn, taken 129th in 2007, has passed 950 points and would stand second among fifth-round skaters. Kirill Kaprizov, taken 135th in 2015, has passed 500. In goal, Connor Hellebuyck went 130th overall in 2012 and has passed 350 wins, which already places him second in the round behind Ryan Miller, and his career record against every opponent is set out on our Hellebuyck page. Karel Vejmelka has more than 110 wins.
For the rest of this series, see the third round and the seventh.
Draft positions and career totals are from the NHL’s own statistics service, and all career figures are regular season. Hall of Fame membership is as recorded by the Hockey Hall of Fame’s year by year roll call.
Read more:
