Okay, I didn't say that at all. You're putting words in my mouth that I never said I said I thought it might be foolish to think that we could get two top-6 forwards out of Chmelevski, Checkhovich, Reedy, and Norris, never mind a top line forward, and that it was
more likely that we'd get zero. And I've been very complimentary of our draft on the second day.
I just don't see the use in putting lofty explanations on players that almost none of us have seen. I've seen Norris (so stop saying I "looked at scouting reports" to make my judgement
) and Reedy but I've never seen the other two and I don't feel comfortable projecting late round players I've never seen (which is why I'm reserving judgement Ferraro). As for Reedy, there's a reason he was a 4th round pick: he had a very mediocre season. I still think there's talent there and hopefully an NHL future in some capacity, but I wouldn't exactly say he fell.
When was the last time we drafted a legit top-6 forward in any round? Hertl, Coyle, Couture, and
hopefully Meier and Labanc. That's
hopefully five in a decade, and four of them are/were 1st round picks. The simple odds are against the Sharks pulling two top-6 forwards out of one mediocre draft with a mediocre first round selection.
A second reason: every time this board declares a pick to be a steal, whether rightly (Roy) or wrongly (Alexis Vanier, for example), they usually turn out irrelevant. I don't think people understand just how hard it is for even a promising late round pick to become a legit top-6 forward/top-4 D. Look at Chartier and Sadowy, look at Freddie Hamilton. Look at Matt Nieto. All seemed to be promising potential top-6 forwards, according to this forum.
This forum has a long history of vastly overstating prospects. It's not exclusive to Sharks fans, but I think we're pretty bad on average. Remember when people were disappointed that Marek Viedensky was "only" projected to be a Michal Handzus? Remember the hype about Sean Kuraly after a good couple of days at a WJC camp in August? How about the utter outrage when we traded Sgarbossa for Winnik and Galiardi?