NHL draft tracker: Mathew Campagna, Sudbury Wolves

Injuries have rendered Mathew Campagna something of a forgotten man during his NHL draft season.

However, the Sudbury Wolves centre's smarts and skill make him a late-round wild card. In the short run, the Mississauga native need look no farther than his own dressing room to find a poster child undrafted players who have found a place in a NHL team's plans. The Wolves' linchpin, 98-point man Michael Sgarbossa, is a free-agent signee who's now in the Colorado Avalanche system.

"Michael, he always tell me it doesn't matter when the draft is," says Campagna, who was ranked 120th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting in January. "He always tells me, you can't worry about stuff like that. Look at him. He goes undrafted, San Jose picks him up and Colorado traded two steady NHLers for him, basically. You can't let the draft bring you down. You have to fight through it, play your game and never give up until someone says it's over. He's that inspirational."

The Mississauga native played a year up from his age group throughout his minor hockey days. Campagna also has a Hockey Canada pedigree, having won gold medals in 2011 with the Ontario under-17 team and this country's summer under-18 team. (He scored a memorable shootout goal in the U17.) This week, he was also named the third-best shootout taker in the Eastern Conference's annual coaches poll, ahead of world junior forwards such as Barrie's Mark Scheifele and Niagara's duo of Freddie Hamilton and Ryan Strome.

Overall, he has eight goals and 30 points with a plus-9 in 42 games. That's despite missing nearly all of January and February with a neck ailment after being drilled into the boards face-first on New Year's Day. Now Campagna is back and hoping to help the Wolves win at least one playoff round, as they did last year. Sudbury is guaranteed to face the tight-checking Brampton Battalion in Round 1, although home-ice advantage is still hanging in the balance.

"I'm happy I'm back before the playoffs, where it really counts," he says. "At least I got back with several games to go instead of having only three games to get ready for the playoffs.

"I hope to help out on special teams and hopefully be one of the guys who's out on the last minute for those key shifts at key times."

1. Apart from the obvious such as building strength or improving skating, what is the biggest skill you need to improve before you turn pro?

"I think a skill I obviously need to improve on are faceoffs. If you look at my favourite team, Toronto, they have David Steckel who is just there to win draws and he's got a NHL contract. That's a skill to have. Not many guys can win 60 per cent of draws, but I hope to learn off that."

2. Whom in the NHL do you watch and think to yourself, "I need to play more like he does" or "he's doing things I need to incorporate into my game?"

"My favourite player is [Boston Bruins forward and Vancouver Giants grad] Milan Lucic for how hard he works and how tough he is. Obviously, I'm not even close to him, but sometimes I like to go for one shift and check everyone I can. But one guy I really like to look at is [Vancouver Canucks star] Daniel Sedin. He doesn't score many goals, but he gets a ton of helpers. It's the same way with [San Jose Sharks star and former Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound] Joe Thornton. They both help their teammates. I try to be that guy who helps his teammates scores."

3. Which teammates have had the greatest influence on you?

"Sgarbossa, [defenceman] Justin Sefton and last year it was [then-captain] Marcus Foligno. Guys like that have always showed me that you can't take days off and you always have to be working 100 per cent. They're quiet guys, but they know how to lead."

4. What do you consider your proudest hockey achievement?

"Representing my country at U18 [the Memorial of Ivan Hlinka under-18 tournament last summer] and winning gold for Canada. That was the most exciting time of my life, for sure. I'll never forget having a coach like Spotter [Kitchener Rangers coach-GM Steve Spott] passing on things about what it takes to be a pro. And that whole Hockey Canada organization, their alumni, were so great to us. I'll never forget that day we won and I changed as a hockey player from that day on."

5. Sudbury travels a lot, so we must ask, what's the worst movie you've watched on the team bus?

"I don't really watch them. The worst movie... I've really never liked the series Eastbound And Down if you know what that is." (BTN: I do. My 20-something brother's a big fan.) "I'm not, really. I don't like that kind of stuff. I'm not a guy who drinks a lot and thinks he's a baseball player [like Kenny Powers]."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.