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Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

2010: Hall, Seguin, Gudbranson
2011: RNH, Landeskog, Huberdeau
2012: Yakupov, Murray, Galchenyuk
2013: Mackinnon, Barkov, Drouin
2014: Ekblad, Reinhart, Draisaitl
2015: McDavid, Eichel, Strome
2016: Matthews, Laine, Dubois
2017: Hischier, Patrick, Heiskanen
2018: Dahlin, Svechnikov, Kotkaniemi
2019: Hughes, Kaako, Dach
2020: Lafrenier, Byfield, Stutzle

A single cup from that group so far. Seguin won it as a rookie, only played half the playoff games.

Now that could very well change this year if Colorado, Edmonton, Carolina, or New York wins.

But really it's more about drafting well over a long period of time, no matter where you draft.

Early picks help with that, but teams like Chicago, LA, Pittsburgh, Tampa had success because of their strong early picks, but really it was finding late round gems to add to the core that won them the cups.

Many players from 2011 are just hitting their prime now (Gaudreau, Miller, Huberdeau, Landeskog, all just had their most productive seasons).

If anything, the takeaway is that it takes time to go from a lottery team to a cup winning team.

Really, the only absolute musts, evidently, to win a cup are:
-A strong 1-2 punch at center
-A hot homegrown goalie

There are no exceptions to these, going back 50 years.