Johan Franzen was drafted when he was 25, always found that odd because wouldn't he of been an Undrafted UFA at that point? Or did the regarding that change after the lockout? (drafted in 2004)
Yeah the lockout changed the rules for the 2005 Draft. Before that, all Europeans had to be drafted into the league so it was common to see a handful of older guys like Franzen get taken in the drafts up to that point. Just some other examples off the top of my head, Kings took Frantisek Kaberle as a 25 year old, Roman Cechmanek and Jiri Dopita were selected as a 29 year olds.