[Pointman]

Originally Posted by OptimalTates

List of top 3 picks between 2004-2019 (48 picks):

Anaheim (1)
Arizona (2)
Boston (1)* (Seguin)
Buffalo (3)
Carolina (2)
Chicago (4)
Colorado (3)
Columbus (2)
Dallas (1)
Edmonton (5)
Florida (4)
LA (1)
Montreal (2)
New Jersey (2)
New York Islanders (1)
New York Rangers (1)
Philadelphia (2)
Pittsburgh (3)
St. Louis (1)
Tampa (3)
Toronto (1)* (Plus Seguin)
Washington (1)
Winnipeg (2)

Detroit, Ottawa, Minnesota, Nashville, Calgary, San Jose, and Vancouver are the non-recent-expansion teams to not have a third or better pick between 2004 and 2019. Those teams since the 2013-2014 season (coming up on 9 seasons):

Detroit - Zero playoff series win. Missed playoffs last 6 consecutive years
Ottawa - Two playoff series win (2017x2). Missed playoffs last 5 consecutive years, 6 total times
Minnesota - Two playoff series win (2014, 2015). Haven't missed playoffs.
Nashville - Five playoff series win (2016, 2017x3, 2018). Missed playoffs 2 times.
Calgary - Two playoff series win (2015, 2022*). Missed playoffs 5 times.
San Jose - Seven playoff series win (2013, 2016x3, 2018, 2019x2). Missed playoffs last 3 consecutive years, 4 total times.
Vancouver - One playoff series win (2019). Missed playoffs last 2 seasons, 7 times total.

Minnesota has shown you can be the pinnacle of mediocracy if you don't draft high. Nashville did go on a pretty decent Cinderella run after squeaking into the playoffs in 2017. But it seems like the key to being a good team if you haven't drafted in the top 3 in recent years is to do what the Sharks did...build around two old top three picks after being gifted one of them for peanuts during his Hart season.

So yeah, teams with top 3 draft picks can be anywhere from dynasties to AHL-calibre, but teams without top 3 picks are seemingly just bad.

You only count those team with the original pick. Calgary has Gudbransson for example. We also used to have Zyuzin (2nd) and Hamrlik (1st).