Quoting: exo2769
1st thanks for contributing!
Totally understand. The #5/#6 is definitely a top tier talent. To me, it's just harder to develop talent when the pieces are them aren't that good. How many 1st round picks does AZ need before they contend? EDM needed (4) first overall picks until they were graced by god with McDavid. Yet, late 1st round picks develop into very solid NHL players all the time. Babcock did a great job by keeping veterans around. Having JVR/Kadri/etc... helped out in a ton of different ways.
Take a moment to go back and look at only the 5th and 6th draft pick from 2013 and earlier. Anything after 2013 and it's just not enough time to tell. It's about 50/50 on which package you'd rather have.
BTW by "roast" I actually just meant critique. I was just paraphrasing your title a little.
Can't go back and look only at 5th and 6th overall picks. If that was the case teams could put 2+2 together and realize that the X pick is the one that yields the best prospect every year and trade for that one. It doesn't always work like that. It's simply odds. The closer you are to the 1st round pick, the better your odds of getting that stud is. Obviously development is nearly as important as draft position.
Sure some of those 5-7 picks are garbage. Some of them aren't though. Anyone with those picks is betting that they'll land "that" player. It only takes winning it once for it to be the smartest move ever. Ask MTL if getting the 5th overall pick in 2005 wasn't one of the most important things to happen to them in the past 20 years. A complete game changer for them.
So I come back to my original point. Does adding Kruger, Panik, Kempny and a prospect like Josh Norris, make the Devils a contender next year or any year in the future? Yeah maybe gives them a 10-15% chance at being a better team and maybe making the playoffs. Does picking 5th and potentially landing a super-stud give better odds for them in the future? Absolutely. It may not if that player is a bust but its a gamble you have to take. Its a gamble your willing to take by trading away all those assets to get it right?
If its my money, I'm keeping the 5-7 pick. But I'll gladly trade you two 2nd rounders for Panik, make a side deal with Vegas to acquire Kruger for a B prospect and a 3rd rounder, scout Europe and sign a decent young player and draft my 5th overall pick and pray to god its the "one". Look at the cost of moving up a couple spots in the draft in the 1st round. To go from 31st to 5th is going to cost a heck of a lot and more than Panik, Kruger and Kempny to do. (IMO)
Then, we haven't even got to the point that this is a lottery pick. They could move up in the draft and get one of the consensus sure things in Hischier or Patrick.
Quoting: NateElder12
that's why I didn't roast you because the guys who made the NHL already are definite while that #5 pick maybe be a bust like EDM figured out in Yakupov in three years or simply a 2C instead of superstar like RNH. NJ got their star player by trading for Hall. They should move Schneider for some prospects/future stars that could really help them.
Yup, cherry pick Edmonton as the average? What about the 5-7 picks that actually became studs:
2005: Carey Price 5th
2006: Phil Kessel 5th
2007: Voracek 7th
2008:
nothing special
2009: Oliver Ekman-Larsson 6th
2010: Jeff Skinner 7th
2011: Scheifele 7th
2012: Lindholm 6th
2013: Monahan 6th
So yeah you know what NJ needs? A 3rd line shutdown center, a decent 2nd line winger, a 6-7 dman and a late 1st round pick. Not a chance at any of the people mentioned above. Nope