[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by New Era

Do you? And when do those picks turn into something? Because Stamkos was drafted in 2008 and Hedman in 2009. So it took 11-12 years for those picks to bare fruit.

Looking at the Blues, they didn't draft in the top three once. Their top three pick was Bouwmeester (2002) and was on his third team, 17 years after being drafted. The Capitals #1 was Ovechkin and that was in 2004, so 14 years after the fact. Going to the Bruins they had 18 year old Tyler Seguin (#2) as a passenger, and Nathan Horton (#3) on the team, but that team was driven by a collection of second round picks or later. Lucic, Krejci, Bergeron were all second round picks, Chara, Marchand, and Campbell third rounders, Recchi a fourth rounder, Seidenberg a sixth rounder, and Ryder an eight rounder.



Not buying it. If all it took to win a cup was to draft early, every first overall pick would have their name etched on the trophy. Not the way the way it works. There have been just as many failures as there have been success stories by drafting early. The real secret is drafting enough talent that develops critical mass and becomes a deep team. The Flames never achieved that because Treliving traded away all the picks for middling talent.

The blues drafted EJ 1st overall in 2006