Quote:
Originally Posted by nik-
I think we need to add two elite players to really be a legit contender. Which is a little scary, because this team works too hard to get into McDavid/Eichel territory. We're going to have to have some pretty significant drafting luck go our way in the form of some home runs in the 5-10 range which is where we're likely going to be the next few years.
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It is interesting to look at the top teams in the league and see how they were built via draft picks. You need home runs outside of the 1-10 range and hopefully you hit those home runs before you add your "Elite" players with early picks (bolded below).
St.Louis: Pieces on their current roster started with the 2003 Draft.
2003: Round 2 63: David Backes
2004: Round 1 24 : T.J. Oshie
2004: Round 6 180: Roman Polak
2006: Round 1 1: Erik Johnson (Turned into Kevin Shattenkirk)
2006: Round 1 25: Patrik Berglund
2007: Round 1 18: Ian Cole
2008: Round 1 4: Alex Pietrangelo
2010: Round 1 14: Jaden Schwartz
2010: Round 1 16: Vladimir Tarasenko
Plus other solid picks that they used to upgrade other positions but aren't on the current roster anymore: Lee Stempniak (5th Round), Lars Eller (1st Round), David Perron (1st Round), Ben Bishop 3rd Round).
Boston: Also starts with the 2003 Draft but their success is also due to good UFA signing and great trades.
2003: Round 2 45: Patrice Bergeron
2004: Round 2 63: David Krejci
2006: Round 2 50: Milan Lucic
2006: Round 3 71: Brad Marchand
2009: Round 1 25: Jordan Caron
2011: Round 1 9: Dougie Hamilton
Plus other solid picks that they used to upgrade other positions but aren't on the current roster anymore: Vladimir Sobotka (Round 4),
Phil Kessel/Tyler Seguin (Round 1), Joe Colborne (Round 1),
Chicago: The framwork for their turnaround really started back in 2001 and goes far beyond the current roster. Also they were able to turn draft pick misses into hits by making good trades.
2001: Round 1 9: Tuomo Ruutu (Turned into Andrew Ladd)
2002:Round 2 54: Duncan Keith
2002: Round 5 156: James Wisniewski
2003: Round 1 14: Brent Seabrook
2003: Round 2 52: Corey Crawford
2003: Round 8 245: Dustin Byfuglien
2004: Round 1 3: Cam Barker (Turned into Nick Leddy)
2004: Round 2 32: Dave Bolland
2004: Round 2 41: Bryan Bickell
2004: Round 7 214: Troy Brouwer
2005: Round 4 108: Niklas Hjalmarsson
2006: Round 1 3: Jonathan Toews
2007: Round 1 1: Patrick Kane
2009: Round 5 149: Marcus Kruger
2011: Round 2 43: Brandon Saad
2011: Round 5: Andrew Shaw
Plus Teravainen, Hartman, McNeill, Hayes, as promising prospects still in the pipeline. The way Chicago has drafted and managed assets is unbelievable.
So a takeaway is that it was about 8 years after the team drafted their first impact player for the team to become a contender, you also need at least 10 draft picks that turn into good players during that time.
Each team hit on two of their top picks and either have them on their roster or turned them into assets that are helping them contend.
The Flames hit on Monahan, now they need that second piece, while also hoping some of the later round picks develop into NHLers.