At the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, the Dallas Stars - acknowledged in a few places to be an excellent drafting team - had two consecutive picks, #47 and #48. With the 47th, they selected Stankoven, with the absolute understanding they have the very next pick allowing them to pick another player which they likely valued somewhat similarly since they could have picked them in reverse order knowing that they would get both players that they wanted at that place in the draft. *(my apologies for the structure of this sentence - oof)
Of course, you need to take into account their development since then. The player who was drafted for potential as an offensive player has shown their potential to be an offensive player with excellent stats in that area. The player who was drafted for their defensive capabilities hasn't put up offensive stats - go figure. Is Grushnikov showing good development as a defensive D-man? That is what needs to be determined which is very difficult to know from looking at counting stats.
BTW, the Stars had seven more picks that year after also having picked Wyatt Johnston in the 1st round. I have no idea how those other seven picks project but the Flames are only one pick short of ten in 2024.
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