I hate Holland.

I hate Holland so much it's forcing me to root against McDavid in the playoffs, and that makes me hate Holland even more.

He also picked Lindstrom over Robertson and traded the Vasilevskiy pick for Quincey. Can't win em all.

tbf zadina was pretty highly thought of at the time. it's not like holland went crazy off the board, a lot of people would have picked him

I understand the pressure to keep on the playoff streak
but man, those trades/drafts are atrocious in retrospect.
Plus his drafting was awful. He had so much NA-bias. Don't know why he didn't draft a LHD either, since that was our biggest need. If he reached out to Håkan we end up with Adam Boqvist, which is still better than Zadina lol.

Also traded Mattias Janmark, the pick used to draft Hintz, and some other prospect for Erik Cole and a 3rd.

yeah there were local people in Raleigh, trying to get the canes to pick Zadina over Svechnikov....

2015-2018 Drafts were terrible.

To be fair, every team does that. Maybe some over pays on some of those trades but ever competitive team trades picks to try to add. How many Tampa picks are going to turn out I wonder? They will get the same scrutiny in a few years when they aren't as competitive and the players with their selections, or right after, are looking good.

Is that Holland or the scouting staff though?

Yeah but at the time the pick was looked at as a gift, if he would have reached for someone I'd be more up set but most people praised the pick. He fell at the time because teams liked players more not really because they didn't like him.

It's also important to realize that the Lightning are competitive and have been in cup talks for over half a decade.
During the latter ends of the streak, the Red Wings were a decent playoff team but definitely not a cup winning roster lol

Both.

He lost most

It was a horrible pick at the time, and even more-so now with hindsight.

Yeah but we desperately needed a LD far more than a LW. Like, desperately.

Incorrect. The Wings were barely competitive (thanks to Pav, Lids and Z) but Holland had to make believe that those trades would put us over the top. The worst asset management I've seen in sports.

TB is a legit cup contender.

Would you take reinbacker over michkov if he fell in the draft

I understand the point you're trying to make but it doesn't work. Michkov to Reinbacher is a much bigger discrepancy than Zadina to Hughes was.

Plus, one was scoring a buncha goals in a league known for it's cruddy defense, the other is breaking records in the second best hockey league in the world.

I couldn't believe when Kenny took Zadina over Hughes or Bouchard. Just...blew...my...mind... I know Z was one of the top wingers in the draft but Hughes!

ugh...

with hindsight sure it looks bad but everyone thought detroit got a steal at the time.

You should re-read the definition of "everyone"

maybe not every single person around but the perception from MOST people was that it was a good pick

I think Z was #4 on McKenzie's draft list so and a top 10 prospect overall. So yeah, he was thought to be a steal especially after Montreal took Kotkaniemi. I still wanted Hughes or Bouchard though.