2017 NHL Entry Draft Prospect Profile: Casey Mittelstadt

2016-17 Teams: Eden Prairie High (USHS) Green Bay Gamblers (USHL)

Stats: 21 G, 43 A, 8 PIM in 25 Games (USHS) / 13 G, 17 A, 2 PIM in 24 Games (USHL)

Average Draft Rank Among the 12 Most Popular Scouting Services: 5.8.

NHL Comparable Player: Barry Sanders - His Eden Prairie coach’s words, not mine.

My high school experience at Nolan Catholic in Fort Worth was pretty basic. I kept my head above water academically, thought Can’t Hardly Wait reflected modern romance, and spent weekends eating pizza with friends in the figurative presence of Jackie Chan.

And yet if someone asked me to leave high school early for an impromptu adventure, I might have hesitated despite my vanilla existence. For reasons…