Cryano, I get what you’re saying but honestly the NHL is littered with players that have their best years in season 4, 5, 6, even year 7. I agree the good 1st round picks are often good to go by year 2 or 3 post draft and hit the ground running, but a players draft position should only matter to the scouts. The players game and development is on the player so it’s very possible that Lazar keeps trending into something no one is expecting however unlikely that might seem at this point in time. Again, many wrote Backlund off completely and thought of him as an afterthought. Bassard is another good example. And it wasn’t 3 weeks ago that some intelligent folk were ready to cut bait with Bennett for almost anything equaling a bag of pucks.
I think as long as a player is trending up, there is reason for optimism.