Islanders late round pick could be steal of 2020 draft

Fifth-round picks can best be described as tossing a dart against the figurative draft day dartboard. They might turn into something. But it’s more likely that they don’t make it. And as things are going, New York Islanders fifth-round pick William Dufour could turn into something.

Just to put things into perspective about the likelihood since 2018, only 54 players selected in the fifth round have played in at least one NHL game. With 211 selections made 25% of the selection could hit the NHL. Those aren’t great odds.

Again, that’s just getting at least one game of NHL experience. It obviously goes down if you factor 10+ games or even a full season at the NHL level. And while it’s still early on the 2020 NHL draft, one fifth-rounder is making waves and he’s an Islanders prospect.

New York Islanders might have steal of 2020 draft

The season is still early, but the returns are very good for William Dufour. Through eight games with the Saint John Sea Dogs Dufour has seven goals and twelve points. He’s tied for first in goals with seven in the QMJHL, and sixth for points in the Quebec major junior league.

Since being drafted Dufour has 41 points in 31 games. Wild.

His play hasn’t just impressed me and other Islanders fans, he’s even impressed The Atheltic’s prospects writer Corey Pronman. In a re-draft of the 2020 Entry Draft (subscription required), Pronman has Dufour at 55th overall. In the second round.

That’s a nearly 100 spot jump. Looking at the rest of Pronman’s re-draft. Only goalie Devon Levi has a bigger jump than Dufour. And to be fair Levi has played exactly eleven games since 2020-21. The sample size is very important here.

There’s no guarantee that Dufour makes the NHL, but the way things are going it seems he just might. And again, for a fifth-round pick, that’s very impressive.