Quote:
Originally Posted by Bench
And then you draft a franchise #1 center! 
Folks need to stop panicking about being a lottery team. It makes for a rough year or two, but the rebuild is pretty quick when you get top 5 picks. Every recent lottery team, save maybe Columbus, has some really exciting players making an impact now or will very shortly.
The real heartbreak is when you keep barely missing the playoffs, or flame out miserably in the 1st round, while continuing to pile up draft picks outside of the top 10 that may never make an impact, and certainly won't help in the immediate future. Let's call that Calgary syndrome. |
Lets look at some of the young stars/guys who would seriously help the Wings, shall we?
Mike Richards, LA Kings - 24th overall
Claude Giroux, PHI Flyers - 22nd overall
Jonathon Quick, LA Kings - 72nd overall
Adam Henrique, NJ Devils - 82nd overall
Travis Zajac, NJ Devils - 20th overall
Since hockey has been so off my radar lately, I am having a real hard time remembering all the young guns I really like watching. Its the nature of my memory, or lack thereof. So I went to ESPN and searched each team and was overwhelmed by how many very late 1st round picks and beyond are making huge impacts.
Wings dont have that. Is it philosophy (smallish Euro players)? Is it luck? Cant answer those questions, but I can say the Wings are being seriously outfoxed in the draft these days.
Wings dont need to tank, they need to draft better, more impactful players like the rest of the league seems to. Not once every 4 years, either. Every year a team should draft an NHL player that takes no more than 3 years to make the big club.