Panarin says going undrafted was the best thing that could have happened

Not many players can put up 95 points in 69 games in a single season. Even fewer do it after going undrafted. But it is exactly what Artemi Panarin has done.

Ten years ago, after a season in which "the bread man" scored 8 points in 20 KHL games, Panarin waited the entire draft without his name being called. According to Lohud's Vincent Z. Mercogliano, Panarin said not getting drafted was beneficial for him.

"I would like to thank all the GMs for not choosing me in the draft," he said. "It allowed me to choose the team where I wanted to play, that played my style of hockey and allowed me to be successful to begin with."

Since no teams had claimed the speedy Russian's rights, he was free to choose which team to sign with after a 2014-15 season in the KHL that saw him score 26 goals and 36 assists in 54 games. After signing with the New York Rangers as a free agent this year, the 28-year-old was recently named one of three finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award, which recognizes "the most outstanding player in the NHL,” as voted by fellow members of the NHLPA. The Rangers head coach, David Quinn, certainly thinks he's deserved it.

"When you're third in the league in scoring, lead the league in five-on-five points, and you're plus-36 — which is a colossal difference between all the other guys that he's measured up against — I think his stats really speak volumes to the type of season he had," Quinn said.

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