Quoting: SevenLeg
Oh and to say I was mad they didn't pick Fucale with their 1st round pick. Thankfully they got an important NHL center in McCarron.
Some baaaaad draft years in there for the Habbies
For our viewing pleasure, 1st round picks from 2009-2018
-Louie Leblanc (Kreider went next)
-Jared Tinordi (Hayes and Kuzy were within 4 picks)
-Nathan Beaulieu (Least you didn't take Tyler Biggs? Rakell/Gibby to Anaheim!!!)...snagged Danault from Chicago later on though!
-Galchenyuk (Rielly, Hampus, Dumba within 4 picks...at least you didn't take Reinhart?)
-McCarron (Shea Theodore was the next pick)
-Nikitaaaaa future GOAT Sherbakkkkkk! (Nothing really there until Demko at 36...Everyone else missed on Point).
-Juulsen (Beau a couple of picks later, and plenty missed on Aho for some reason...)
-Serg (Jesus Christ Bergy.)
-Poehling (Meh, you weren't taking Oettinger and Jason Robertson is a god)
-JESPERRIIIII COTTONCANDDYYYYYY (Not as bad as taking Hayton I guess?)
In fairness, a number of those guys were mid-late 1st rounders, but if that isn't enough of an example as to why we should overvalue draft picks that aren't at the top of the 1st round, I don't know what is! I'm genuinely curious as to how much the player development crew actually helps with prospect development at the end of the day, or whether the majority of it is either poor scouting. And this isn't a Habs-specific thing at all, because it happens to every team...just from a Ducks perspective, the Jones/Steel/Larsson/Ritchboiiii years were pretty "Meh", and the Burkie years were as bad as one would expect as well (McMillan/Mitera)