Quote:
Originally Posted by Fire of the Phoenix
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.
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You're vastly exaggerating how much drafting has improved. There are still plenty of first round busts and late round gems. The obvious Flames examples have already been provided, but also consider that while Lidstrom was drafted 53rd overall, PK Subban was drafted 43rd overall and Shea Weber was drafted 49th overall. If the exact player that Lidstrom was in 1988 as a 17 year old was playing now and being scouted for the 2016 entry draft he would probably still be picked in the same range of draft picks as he was then.
Heck, a lot of the same people who were doing the scouting in the late 80s are still active scouts now.