David Quenneville has signed a new contract with the New York Islanders.

I've looked up his stats. It looks like he's pretty good. He's just underrated cause nobody knows much about him.

or because 7th rounders don't usually make it to the NHL; of the 397 drafted in the 7-round era (starting in '04 - '05), only 67 have even played a game in the NHL, and 28 of those 67 have played more than 100 games. That's ~17% of 7th-round picks who make it to the NHL, and ~7% of 7th-round picks who play more than 100 games. It's not terribly likely that he's going to be a successful NHL player. That's the more likely reason that he's underrated.

Or maybe the reason he was a 7th rounder was because he's a 5'9" d man, and not because he isn't talented enough to make it. The kid had gaudy numbers in juniors. Just a thought...

True; the criteria by which NHL GMs draft players are questionable at best and complete BS at worst. However, major-junior numbers don't always translate to NHL numbers. It's quite possible that Quenneville put up the numbers that he did because he was skating against weaker competition (16 - 21-year-olds aren't that great at defense) and had more time and space to make plays and take shots, and he may be incapable of making the transition to NHL-level hockey. Size bias is not the sole reason that Quenneville doesn't get very much attention; it's probably a combination of the two.

"Nobody knows much about him" is a pretty unsatisfactory explanation, though.

Not saying he's a "top prospect" but he's a decent one. His numbers in junior are pretty good, and that means he definitely has potential.

Should point out here that his 'gaudy' numbers were boosted by the fact he plays the 'ovechkin' role on the power play, something he is unlikely to do at the NHL level if NYI's roster remains consistent...