Every year a few (European) players get drafted with overaged.
Examples:
Daniel Alfredsson, 1972-late, drafted in 1994
Sami Kapanen, 1973, 1995
Sami Salo, 1974, 1996
Karlis Skrastins, 1974, 1998
Those players for example have been succesful in NHL.
Possible overaged for this year's draft? I start with some possible Finnish players:
Toni Söderholm, D, 1978
HIFK captain is good defenseman on both ends. Only his second season in SM-liiga after four seasons at Mass.-Amherst. Scored 16 goals and had 21 assists which ranked second in defenseman scoring.
Janne Pesonen, W, 1982
Biggest Rookie of the Year canditate. 17+13, +15. Not a good playoffs by far, but he is still playing (and his team Kärpät leads best-of-5 finals 1-0 with next game at home).
Janne Niskala, D, 1981
Lukko defenseman was first defenseman in years, who scored 20 goals in SM-liiga (Jari Korhonen, 1975, also did that). Good shooter, was chased by bigger teams but decided to stay at Rauma.
Markku Tähtinen, C, 1978
Big pressure after his move from Ässät to Lukko (they are big rivals) Was ranked 5th in assists (32), and played also in national team.
Examples:
Daniel Alfredsson, 1972-late, drafted in 1994
Sami Kapanen, 1973, 1995
Sami Salo, 1974, 1996
Karlis Skrastins, 1974, 1998
Those players for example have been succesful in NHL.
Possible overaged for this year's draft? I start with some possible Finnish players:
Toni Söderholm, D, 1978
HIFK captain is good defenseman on both ends. Only his second season in SM-liiga after four seasons at Mass.-Amherst. Scored 16 goals and had 21 assists which ranked second in defenseman scoring.
Janne Pesonen, W, 1982
Biggest Rookie of the Year canditate. 17+13, +15. Not a good playoffs by far, but he is still playing (and his team Kärpät leads best-of-5 finals 1-0 with next game at home).
Janne Niskala, D, 1981
Lukko defenseman was first defenseman in years, who scored 20 goals in SM-liiga (Jari Korhonen, 1975, also did that). Good shooter, was chased by bigger teams but decided to stay at Rauma.
Markku Tähtinen, C, 1978
Big pressure after his move from Ässät to Lukko (they are big rivals) Was ranked 5th in assists (32), and played also in national team.