Sam Gagner was one of them. Gagner didn’t play on an NHL roster in 2024-25, but there were just 15 players selected in the 2007 draft who played a game last season. He, along with former Edmonton Oiler Patrick Maroon, called it a career as the season ended.

Still, Gagner had a lengthy journeyman career and always found his way back to the Edmonton Oilers. That said, who were the misses, who were the steals, and how does Gagner compare to the rest of the 2007 draft class?

The misses

Unlike Nail Yakupov and Jesse Puljujärvi, Gagner was not a miss. He was selected sixth overall by the Oilers, but his London Knights’ teammate Patrick Kane was selected first overall. And deservedly so, as he has 492 goals and 1,343 points in 1,302 games, with his career still ongoing.

But what about the misses? Thomas Hickey was selected fourth overall by the Los Angeles Kings. He never played for the Kings, spending his entire 456-game NHL career with the New York Islanders, with the defenceman scoring just 22 goals and 117 points in 456 games. At least he played a significant number of NHL games.

The same cannot be said for the eighth overall selection, as the Boston Bruins selected Zach Hamill from the Western Hockey League’s Everett Silvertips. Hamill, a right-shot centre, had a lengthy career outside of North America, playing in Russia, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Czechia, and France, but a rather disappointing career for an eighth overall pick.

Of all eighth-overall picks, Hamill played the eighth-fewest games, assuming Ryan Leonard, Berkeley Catton, and Jake O’Brien play NHL games.

Although Gagner turned out to be a successful pick, the Oilers had a pretty big whiff with the 15th overall pick, selecting defenceman Alex Plante from the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen. Plante played just 10 NHL games, picking up two assists, with his career ending after the 2013-14 season. To make matters worse, Riley Nash, Max Pacioretty, Mikael Backlund, and David Perron were selected in the last 10 picks of the first round.

Plante and Hamill both played NHL games, but there were a handful of players who never got into an NHL game. They are Alexei Cherepanov (17th overall), Logan MacMillan (19th overall), Angelo Esposito (20th overall), Patrick White (25th overall), and Nick Ross (30th overall). Moreover, Nick Petrecki (28th overall) played just one NHL game.

Value outside the first round

The first round was solid, with first overall pick Patrick Kane having a Hall of Fame-calibre career. Still, there was some value outside of the first round in the 2007 draft. Take P.K. Subban, for example, as he scored 115 goals and 467 points in 834 career games, winning the Norris trophy in 2012-13.

With the last pick in the second round, the Los Angeles Kings selected Wayne Simmonds, who went on to play 1,037 games with 263 goals and 526 points. Eric Tangradi, Dana Tyrell, T.J. Galardi, and Nick Spaling all played 100 or more games after being selected in the second round.

In the third round, Alexander Killorn was selected 77th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he’s gone on to score 235 goals and 539 points in 950 games, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021. Like Killorn, Robert Bortuzzo played NHL games during the 2024-25 season, as did Evgeny Dadonov.

Sticking with Stanley Cup winners, Alec Martinez scored the game-winning goal in overtime in the 2014 playoffs to give the Kings their second Cup in franchise history. He was selected 95th overall and was easily the best player selected in this round. Other notable players are Justin Falk, Colton Sceviour, Matt Halischuk, and Dwight King.

Martinez’s teammate, Jake Muzzin, was selected 141st overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins. He played 683 games with 69 goals and 294 points. However, the most notable player selected in the fifth round is Jamie Benn, who has 399 goals and 956 points in 1,192 games, winning the Art Ross Trophy in 2014-15.

There are a surprising number of notable players selected in the sixth round of the 2007 draft. Former Oiler Patrick Maroon broke out with the Oilers, but won back-to-back-to-back Cups in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Carl Hagelin won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017, as did Nick Bonino. Paul Byron never won a Stanley Cup, but like the other three players mentioned in this paragraph, he played over 500 NHL games.

Five players selected in the seventh round of the 2007 draft went on to play at least one NHL game. Justin Braun played the most, scoring 34 goals and 199 points in 842 games (he is still active in Germany). Carl Gunnarsson played 629 games and won a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2018-19. Paul Postma, Frazer McLaren, and Carson McMillan all played at least one NHL game as well.

How Gagner stacks up

Stepping up to the podium with the sixth overall pick, was Sam Gagner the best player to draft in hindsight? Maybe not, as Gagner played 1,043 games with 197 goals and 529 points. The next pick saw the Columbus Blue Jackets select Jakub Voráček, who scored 223 goals and 806 points in his career. Logan Couture was the ninth overall pick, and his 323 goals are the fifth-most from the draft class.

Still, the Oilers found value with this pick, as Gagner went on to have plenty of productive NHL seasons in a middle-six role. In his first five seasons, Gagner hit the 40-point mark in all of them, and had 38 points in 48 games during the lockout season in 2012-13. The backend of his career saw Gagner take on a journeyman-type of role, but it was a successful career nonetheless.