Which NHL teams have drafted the best and worst since 2007? Ranking 31-17

NHL teams that draft proficiently have a massive leg up on their competition.

It’s impossible to build a Stanley Cup contender by paying every player market value or higher — you’d run out of salary-cap room. Contenders need bargain contracts and the best way to usually insert those into your lineup is by hitting on prospects that provide strong value on entry-level contracts and future RFA years that are cost-controllable, too.

The draft provides the opportunity to mine core players with zero acquisition cost besides the pick itself.

Here, using a thorough analysis of draft data (which we do every two years), we’ve tried to cut through the noise to provide a holistic picture of how every NHL team has performed at the amateur scouting level. We’ll be analyzing data from 2007-2018. The 2019 to 2023 drafts won’t be included in our main data set because it’s too early to fully judge those results. Yes, some of those players are already obvious difference-makers but it’s still going to take a bit longer to get a clear grasp on just how good everybody in those draft classes is. It wouldn’t be right to statistically judge those picks this early.

Part 1 looks at teams ranked No. 17-31. Part 2 will come out on Friday looking at the top 16 teams.

A few important notes before we dive in:

• A club with tons of lottery picks and extra top-two-round selections should be judged differently than a contender that drafts late. Because of that, we’ll be using a model to determine each team’s “expected wins added” based on the picks they had each year and the historical worth of those selections. For example, the Edmonton Oilers had by far the most top 10 and No. 1 picks, so they had the highest expected wins added. We’ll compare that with the actual “wins added” based on the drafted players’ NHL performance. A team that drafts well and exceeds the expected value of its draft capital will have a positive “value above expected” rating and vice versa.

• The model isn’t perfect so we’ve included other metrics in our charts such as what percentage of a team’s picks are on track to play 200-plus NHL games. It’s your choice what metrics you want to put most of your stock into — you don’t need to be overly fixated on the teams’ order through this article, which is sorted by the model’s value above expected rating.

• Players belong to their originally drafted team for the purpose of this exercise. Amateur scouting staffs don’t trade or sign draftees, they just need to target the right prospects.

• Seattle’s results won’t be included. Winnipeg’s draft data includes Atlanta’s 2007-2010 results.

How do you miss the playoffs 12 years running (and likely soon to be 13)? By botching almost every single draft during that timeframe. Just one, 2009, came in above average in value over expected.

The Sabres have come away with an NHL player 27 percent of the time, which ranks ninth, but that’s…