Quote:
Originally Posted by Hackey
They have had terrible luck with their first overall picks. Not very good drafts. The 3 season's after Yakupov would have landed them Mackinnon, Ekblad, and McDavid. The 3 years before Hall would have landed them Kane, Stamkos, and Tavares.
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Does that point to bad luck, or is it an indication of bad development on their part?
Kane's stats in his final junior year were off-the-charts, but Stamkos' and Tavares' final junior seasons were comparable to Hall's. Hall was an outstanding junior player who led his team to back-to-back Memorial Cups (both times as the OHL Champion) and is the only player to ever be named the Memorial Cup MVP twice. There was no reason to believe he would not develop into an NHL superstar (which, if you believe the Oiler hype machine, he is).
Nugent-Hopkins' junior stats were also on par with Hall, Tavares, and Stamkos. He was also a dominant player at the World Juniors against his peers.
The Yakupov pick certainly looks like it was a mistake, but that appears to have been because a meddling owner decided the Hockey News Draft Preview knew more than his own scouting staff. So, you really can't blame that on luck either.