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Japan

Japanese players in the NHL Draft

5 Japanese players have been picked in 5 NHL Drafts from 1981 to 2005, 1 of them in the first round. The highest pick of all time is Ryan O'Marra (2005), at number 15.

2000s

2 Japanese players
2005JUL 30 · Ottawa, ON, CAN

Cohort: 1987

1
Japanese players
1
Round 1
NYI#15Ryan O'Marra
2004JUN 26–JUN 27 · Raleigh, NC, USA

Cohort: 1986

1
Japanese players
0
Round 1
LAK#238Yutaka Fukufuji

Draft statistics of all time

Highest draft picks

1#15Ryan O'Marra (C)2005NYI
2#39Ryan Kuwabara (R)1990MTL
3#205Steve Tsujiura (C)1981PHI
4#238Yutaka Fukufuji (G)2004LAK
5#260Hiroyuki Miura (D)1992MTL

Most in round 1

120051

Most picked overall

120051220041319921419901519811

The best draft picks

By regular-season NHL career: skaters by points, goalies by games.

1990s

2 Japanese players
1992JUN 19 · Montreal, QC CAN

Cohort: 1974

1
Japanese players
0
Round 1
MTL#260Hiroyuki Miura
1990JUN 15 · Vancouver, BC CAN

Cohort: 1970

1
Japanese players
0
Round 1
MTL#39Ryan Kuwabara

1980s

1 Japanese players
1981JUN 10 · Montreal, QC, CAN

Cohort: 1963

1
Japanese players
0
Round 1
PHI#205Steve Tsujiura