I have never been a proponent of playing for the draft and building success around draft picks. I`d rather the team put more emphasis on making the right trades and picking up the right free agents. Drafting a team leader is more the exception than the rule.
If we look at the top 5 draft picks from 2006 to 2011 there have been very few players who have actually become critical components of their teams and have helped lead their teams to success:
2006 - Jonathon Toews
2007 - Patrick Kane
2008 - Steven Stamkos
2008 - Drew Doughty
2009 - John Tavares
2011 - Gabriel Landeskog
There are a bunch of players showing potential but failing to provide meaningful success:
2006 - Nicklas Backstrom
2006 - Phil Kessel
2009 - Evander kane
2009 - Brayden Schenn
2010 - Taylor Hall
2011 - Ryan Nugent Hopkins
2011 - Jonathan Huberdeau
And there are a lot of disappointments:
2006 - Erik Johnson (1st overall)
2007 - James van Riemsdyk (2nd overall)
2007 - Kyle Turris (3rd overall)
2007 - Thomas Hickey (4th overall)
2007 - Karl Alzner
2008 - Zach Bogosian (3rd overall)
2010 - Erik Gudbranson
2010 - Nino Niederreiter
2011 - Adam Larsson
2011 - Ryan Strome
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