Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Random
Not quite. They did draft Keith Primeau 3rd overall in 1990. He was traded in the deal that brought in Brendan Shanahan, who was a pretty significant piece of their championship teams.
(They also drafted Joe Murphy 1st overall in 1986. But he got traded to the Oilers for spare parts who were traded for other spare parts, so the benefit to the Cup-winning teams from 1997 on was pretty nearly zero.)
However, your point does stand. Three top-5 draft picks over an 8-year period hardly equates to tanking for future success.
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It was a different time. Top picks busted frequently and great players were routinely found deep in the draft. Can't really compare those teams to championship teams now as you simply can't find talent like Fedorov and Lidstrom late in the draft in this era.