3 players that teams will regret passing on at the NHL draft

It happens every year.

For a variety of reasons, a few once-prized prospects find themselves squirming in the stands at the NHL draft as teams make selections that have them falling down the board.

Hindsight is indeed 20/20, but shortly after the final picks are made, there are names that jump out as potentially regrettable misses for the clubs that elected not to call them.

Here are three players that teams will regret passing on at the 2016 NHL Draft

Jakob Chychrun

Prior to the 2015-16 season, International Scouting Services listed defenseman Jakob Chychrun as the second-ranked draft-eligible prospect, behind only Auston Matthews.

Possessing all the tools to succeed at both ends of the ice, his stock tumbled after an underwhelming season with the OHL's Sarnia Sting, a failure to be named to Canada's World Junior Championship squad, and questions about his mental makeup.

So when the dust from the opening round of the NHL draft had settled, Chychrun found himself a member of the Arizona Coyotes as the 16th overall pick - the fifth defenseman to be selected.

While Olli Juolevi (selected by the Vancouver Canucks) and Mikhail Sergachev (Montreal Canadiens) distinguished themselves as high-end defensive prospects worthy of going in the top 10, it was the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins who decided to pass on Chychrun in favor of other options on the blue line, namely Jake Bean and Charlie McAvoy.

With the Bruins in need of elite defensive talent as Zdeno Chara nears the end of his career, the decision to go with McAvoy - who plays for Boston University - over Chychrun could very well come back to bite them.

And Boston likely won't be alone in tending that wound.

Alex DeBrincat

Speaking of the Bruins, they had a shot at selecting a skilled and speedy scorer in Alex DeBrincat of the OHL's Erie Otters with the 29th overall pick, a selection acquired by way of the San Jose Sharks in the Martin Jones trade.

Instead of going with the 26th-ranked skater (according to International Scouting's final rankings), who had recorded back-to-back 51-goal and 100-plus-point seasons, they went way - and we mean way - off the board in selecting Trent Frederic from the USA Under-18 team.

DeBrincat fell all the way to 38 and into the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks, a team that didn't own a first-round pick and that's not averse to adding skill whenever possible.

The knock on DeBrincat is his 5-foot-7, 163-pound frame, but a reluctance to draft a diminutive forward demonstrates a short memory on the part of NHL general managers.

Players like Tyler Johnson, Johnny Gaudreau, and Robby Fabbri have soared to great heights over the past couple years, with DeBrincat poised to be the next big/small thing.

Vitali Abramov

The reigning QMJHL rookie of the year entered the draft as International Scouting's 33rd-ranked skater.

Vitali Abramov, who turned 18 on May 8, scored 38 goals and added 55 assists in 63 games for the Gatineau Olympiques in his first season of North American hockey, leading all rookies in scoring and finishing fifth overall in the league.

His 93 points were six fewer in one more game played than Pierre-Luc Dubois, who was drafted third overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

In the end, Abramov fell to the third round, plucked at 65th overall by the Blue Jackets. Like Debrincat, questions about his size likely prompted his fall, with concerns over a possible return to Russia perhaps also clouding some judgement.

With time, however, Abramov could help erase some of the Blue Jackets' sting in selecting Dubois over the highly touted Jesse Puljujarvi.