Quote:
Originally Posted by JiriHrdina
Doesn’t that prove what I’m saying – it’s about execution
Championship teams get there by outperforming everyone else when it comes to acquiring players by the draft, trade and free agency.
The Kings drafted their elite #1 goalie in the middle rounds. They draft Kopitar around a bunch of other guys that are busts. They drafted guys like Simmonds who they then turned into Mike Richards. They filled needs via free agency with reasonable offers to guys that contributed – Mitchell and Scuderi.
The Bruins made great deals (Kessel), made great decisions with free agents (Chara), and even found a #1 goalie in Europe (Thomas). They drafted impact players in the late 1st and other rounds (Lucic, Krejci, Bergeron, Marchand). Again – they out-executed their competition.
Same with the Blues – combination of hitting on high picks, but moreso making great use of late 1sts to get guys like Berglund, Perron, Backes, Tarasenko, etc.
Go back further to the Devils and Wings – and they simply outperformed other teams at the draft, in trades and with free agents.
It’s about execution.
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Look at the number of high picks those teams had.
The Blues alone had 10 first round picks from 2005-2010. That's 4 additional first rounders over that time span. And they had 2 additional 2nd round picks as well. The Kings had 2 extra 1st rounders and 2 extra 2nd rounder in that time frame. Those teams had three and four drafts respectively where they picked 9+ players.
Outperforming other teams at the draft is the key. It's just pretty hard to expect to do so when you're picking 7 times a year at best.