Identifying prospects who can make an impact in the NHL becomes a daunting task in the later rounds of the draft. Scouting departments must identify who has the greatest growth potential. And who everyone else is wrong about.

Fresh off being selected 180th overall by the Edmonton Oilers, sixth-round pick Caden Harvey reflected on how he can be one of those late-round gems.

“I think it’s just consistency. I think my coaches have been harping on me for a while on that, and I think it’s what a lot of scouts saw,” he told OilersTV’s Tony Brar.

Harvey debuted with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires last year after playing the prior campaign in the USHL. He got off to a hot start, scoring seven points in his first six games. In March, he had another impactful stretch, during which he notched seven points in four games. Those flashes were sandwiched between cold spells, however. By the end of the season, the 6-foot-1 centre had 34 points in 68 games.

Among the scouts, coaches, statistics, and Harvey himself, it appears everyone is aligned on one thing: he needs to be more consistent to reach his ceiling. A ceiling that the Oilers felt was too high to ignore by the sixth........

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