[Hypothetical] We win the McDavid lottery next year...

[AndyMcDonaldsNeck]

I wish the GM would play rookies, Horvat, Shinkaruk, Jensen, Corrado next season. Go with Lack and Markstrom, Trade Kesler for prospects and picks. Do not spend money on free agents.

That way we might finish last and we can pick Connor McDavid.

It'll never happen because we have an owner and a fanbase who demand to always spend to the max making it difficult to get any quality prospects in the draft.

Put in one sucky season and we can get some free agents the next year, as well as a team of rookies with a year of experience under their belt.

[HunterHorvatBure]

So, say we have another bad season next year, wind up with a high pick and win the lottery...

Buffalo offers 2nd overall, 3rd overall, 13th overall and their 2016 1st for that pick. Do we do the deal?

Hanafin, Eichel, Crouse and a shot at Sean Day for McDavid.

No no no no no.

[The_Kuze]

Imagine if we get say Virtanen this year and Mcdavid next year. Keep Kesler

top 9 in no order

Shinkaruk McDavid Jensen

Virtanen Horvat Kassian

Sedin Sedin Kesler

Guance Rictchie Whoever

[Lonny_Bohonos_14]

Yes, salary matters but what I am saying is in this scenario it shouldn't be relevant because predicting a players salary is as hard to do as predicting a players potential. For example could you tell me how much McDavid will make when he gets extended? Or the #2, #3, and #13 picks? Yes, Tavares has an amazing contract but at draft day you have no way of knowing you could lock him in that deal. That is why I am saying it doesn't make sense.

As far as generational talents go though I think you are overrating it. Team depth and a range of stars has more of an effect. Sidney Crosby is the best player in the NHL and probably the best generational talent we will see in this era. Some could even say the Penguins have 2 generational talents. While they did get one cup this has been a team built on underachieving. They have a strong team with a few areas that can be exploited as bad as any other teams flaws. Because of this a few teams manage to dominate them and come playoffs this has now developed into a regular occurrence.

Look at Ovechkin in Washington, never won more than 1 round in the playoffs in his entire career and despite another amazing season of goal scoring his team is prone to miss the playoffs. The Islanders are still struggling to build a playoff team around Tavares. Tampa is still trying to establish a legit contender with Stamkos.

Generational talents are great to have but it's still a team sport and if you can get your hands on a few star players it makes your team better than just having the one.

As far as my references go it was showing the realistic possible returns. I am not saying a team will always pick 3 studs but draft boards are not the same for every team. Just because a player goes 2nd or 3rd or 13th does not mean every NHL team would make the same selection as many teams rank the players differently based on their own scouting. Even team need is not always relevant. Some teams openly admit to just taking the player they deem best on the board no matter what the position. Players like Johansen, Pietroangelo, and Karlsson are relevant because they were taken 1-2 spots after the mentioned picks and some teams would have this players higher ranked on their draft boards than the selected players.

The point being you give up what scouts consider a sure star player for the shot of getting up to 3 star players in return. Even if you don't get 3 and just get 2 its a win in my book or even 1 star and 2 strong core players. I take depth in high end talent over individual star top tier talent any day.

Success of prospects and drafting also often varies by teams. Many teams do a much better job of it than other teams. It comes off as more than just luck in most cases.

I agree. Especially in a deep draft like 2015 is projected to be.

[Hedman]

Nope.

Lets look at the 2005 draft. (I dont know any of the other kids you listed very well)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_NHL_Entry_Draft

Crosby or

2 - Bobby Ryan

3 - Jack Johnson

13 - A bust

2016 first

Crosbys something special and rare that does not come very often, they are hyping up McDavid as the same.

The 2015 draft is much deeper than the 2005 draft. Eichel is a great talent and even though people hype McDavid as the "next Sidney Crosby", i would also consider Eichel a franchise center. Crosby is great, but there are plenty of other good players out there as well. Hanifin is considered the best d-man in the draft, together with Kylington (youngest player to ever score a goal in the Swedish 1st league - and he's a defenceman.) There's also a few other potential franchise centers out there, players like Barzal, Konecny. Sean Day is the 4th player to ever get granted the exceptional status in the OHL, the others being Tavares, Ekblad and McDavid. So basically this could translate into 3 franchise players, + a potential good player for 1 franchise center. Obviously i would do it.