[Darth Sidious*]

Originally Posted by Paradox

Let's see who Pittsburgh could have taken instead:

Toews
Backstrom
Kessel
Brassard
Okposo
Mueller

Most teams would probably rather have ANY of these players except maybe Brassard. Staal is always going to be a third liner as long as he's in Pittsburgh, and even on other teams he's just barely good enough to be a 2nd liner. Just doesn't have the same offensive skills as the players taken before him. His rookie year he got lucky with a high shooting percentage and a lot of shorthanded chances. He will probably end up being a 45-50 point player in his prime, paling in comparison to the players taken after him, and hardly the numbers one would expect from a #2 overall pick. I think it's fair to say that Staal was both a draft bust AND a poor choice considering who went after him.

Wow...just...wow.