Quote:
Originally Posted by bizaro86
Pretty much all the players in the NHL right now got drafted. There are a few exceptions (Gio, etc) but it's not like undrafted players are the core of most successful teams. Having more draft picks (good ones, and drafting well) is absolutely a key feature of successful teams.
Maybe you can improve that by trading futures for the "now" when your window is open and some good UFA signings at the same time, but if you want core players (#1C, #1D) you mostly have to draft them.
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I think he meant drafted by their own team. In other words, build through your own draftees, not via trade/UFA.
Which is only partly true. LA won with Kopitar, Brown, Toffoli, Quick and Doughty but also Carter, Richards, Williams, Muzzin, Stoll, Gaborik, Mitchell and Regehr. TB was very self-made but St. Louis had a lot of acquired players - ROR, Schenn, Bozak, Maroon, Jaybo, Steen, Sundqvist. They drafted Perron but he'd been traded around the league and back.