Kootenay Ice’s Jaedon Descheneau a fave for the fancy stats crowd, plus he plays with Sam Reinhart

When the Soo Greyhounds' diminutive dervish Sergey Tolchinsky was signed by the Carolina Hurricanes last month, there was cause to rejoice among the more progressive hockey analysts. Seeing him go undrafted in June left jaws all over the floor of Newark's Prudential Center, because to see the "smaller side of small" playmaker in action inevitably meant being blown away by his talent.

Now that Tolchinsky has a contract in hand, who's the next player the analytics crowd should champion, if they weren't already? A modest suggestion is that it should be the Kootenay Ice's Jaedon Descheneau, who notched 30 goals and 78 poins as a 17-year-old sophomore, yet wasn't listed by Central Scouting Services, wasn't drafted and wasn't invited to a NHL camp.

Why that is the case is not for someone nearly five provinces away to answer. Descheneau was listed at 5-foot-8 and 177 pounds last season, so he's also on the "smaller side of small," to lift the quote our Sunaya Sapurji collected last winter from Central Scouting's Dan Marr. Scouts have also seen him skate, and I haven't, plus Descheneau also had a team-imposed suspension last December for some off-ice bad behaviour. There could also be the perception his numbers are inflated by skating with top 2014 draft prospect Sam Reinhart. Scouts have a big convenience sample when it comes to junior players whose production and potential was inflated by skating with a phenom: Dany Roussin.

In 2004-05, when 17-year-old Sidney Crosby was lighting it up with the Rimouski Océanic, Roussin had 59 goals and 117 points over 66 games. The Florida Panthers let the former No. 223 overall pick go back in the draft, creating enough of a demand that the Los Angeles Kings took him in the second round, No. 50 overall. It didn't cost the Kings in the long run; L.A. took Jonathan Quick in the third and he later backed them to the 2012 Stanley Cup. Roussin never played a NHL game, though, and that wasted pick might linger on in memory.

Point being, in 2005 there were enough teams willing to look past the 'coattail riding' concern that Dany Roussin rose all the way to the second round. (Kris Letang went 12 picks later, people.) Sergey Tolchinsky also got a contract this summer.

Rob Pettapiece, after weighing CHL players' estimated playing time, point totals and quality of competition (qualcomp), generated a list of Descheneau's most similar players. It turns out the 18-year-old Edmonton native was in very good company last season.

The drafted players on the list averaged a No. 57 overall selection. It's pretty self-explanatory why Horvat and Monahan were each top 10 picks. Each is exceptionally advanced.

Descheneau being overlooked is a noodle-scratcher. He also had more 5-on-5 points than Tolchinsky, 44-29, although some of the disparity might stem from being on a young Ice team compared to a more seasoned Soo squad. Point being, though, if he continues on playing with Sam Reinhart, attention should come. It's at least evident that his big 17-year-old year stats didn't get goosed by playing protected minutes. Teams will have to consider him this season while they're sizing up Reinhart.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.