Quote:
Originally Posted by TheScorpion
Oh yeah, Boston is a great team, but like a true contender they barely make any picks. Furthermore, the picks they have made are typically pretty underwhelming.
A great team, but certainly not a great drafting team of late. But ... they have Jakub Lauko playing regular minutes in the NHL this year.
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Boston has been in contention for the better part of 15 years. Their approach is the correct one - draft picks are for losers (admittedly, they did F themselves by taking Debrusk, Senyshyn and Zboril over Connor, Barzal and Chabot) but they still managed to go to another final after that.
Take a look at the Penguins, as well.
Here are the players drafted by Pittsburgh post-Sid that actually helped the Penguins win games during a Stanley Cup-winning playoff run.
Staal - 1st, 2006
Rust - 3rd, 2010
Kuhnhackl - 4th, 2010
Maatta - 1st, 2012
Matt Murray - 3rd, 2012
Sundqvist - 3rd, 2012
Guentzel - 3rd, 2013
They have three rings in four trips to the Finals. They’ve won 20 playoff rounds in the cap era.
Boston has one ring and three trips to the Finals. They’ve won 16 rounds in the cap era.
Conversely, the Oilers have drafted in the 1st round every year of the cap era but 2006, when they traded a 1st round pick for Dwayne Roloson. I wonder what happened that year, someone should look it up…
Drafting their own 1st and then expecting that child to “ride shotgun” with McDavid is a huge part of the reason Edmonton went almost 5 full calendar years between playoff victories (note, that’s single game victories, not series victories) WITH 29 and 97 on the roster the entire time scoring 200 points a year.
Draft picks are for losers. They are the best way to get top-10 players when they’re 18 years old. But if you’re a team like the Penguins, Bruins, Capitals, Avalanche, Lightning, even the Oilers… you don’t need teenagers.
You need adults who can play with your superstars, who the coach can trust in key moments of playoff games.
Kids that can do that are rare.
There’s no excuse for the Flames to not use their 1st round pick in each of at least the next three years to acquire viable NHL talent. Find some gem in the 4th round again. Find another Mangiapane.
Don’t draft some kid 24th overall. He’s not going to be ready in time.