Off the top of my head, here is the list of players Cairns/Reasoner successfully developed:
Calvin de Haan (took forever)
Ryan Pulock (took forver, still TBD)
Adam Pelech (nothing to write home about)
Scott Mayfield (nothing to write home about)
Casey Cizikas (Love him, but nothing to write home about)
Matt Martin (Love him, but nothing to write home about)
Failures:
Every NA Goalie to come through the system (Bigly, haven't even produced a good AHL starter let alone an NHL backup)
Ryan Strome (Bigly)
Griffin Reinhart (Bigly)
Michael Dal Colle (still TBD, but Bigly)
Matt Donovan
Josh Ho-Sang is perilously close to being added to that list, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee were developed mostly @ the NCAA level. Hamonic, Barzal, Tavares, Beauvillier, Bailey spent little or zero time developing in the AHL. To compound the problem, they aren't drafting out of Europe and the NCAA where development is pretty much out of their hands. That is a damning list right there, especially failing to produce even a single AHL level starting goaltender when they've drafted a half dozen.
I think your thinking is a bit too extreme.
DeHaan was injured more than he played..that's why it took him so long. Sooo long...sooo long..to the point where we wanted to trade him to any team for a bag of pucks.
Pulock is going to be good...This was his first full year..give the kid a break. He's going to be good..very good
Pelech is a future top 2 and I've said this so many times...you guys just look at the surface and make up your minds. He was put into situations that he wasn't supposed to be in for his experience because of injury. He handled himself well considering his lack of experience.
Mayfield....well..I see flashes of brilliance once in a while..overall...great 7th defenceman...or box Good for depth
Zeeker is probably one of the best 4th line centres in the league.
Matt Martin...every team needs a guy that plays with heart...haven't you ever seen Rudy (maybe you're too young)?
We do suck at goalies...best goalie we had was Smith....that was 30+ years ago. Or we trade away anyone that comes close.
BTW...Sorokin is not coming until (no, you never mentioned Sorokin, I know...just adding it here because I wanted to make one post)
1. He gets a full time roll
2. When he makes his money in the K and doesn't have to spend more than 1 year on ELC. I have no idea why you guys don't understand this..it's like i have to explain this in every damn post about him.
Strome has a full time role as a 3rd line centre...he's not a bust (the Oilers (and fans) actually like him in that role)
Ho-Sang is fine...you're panicking too early. He needs to get the rest of his game on track and that means learning to listen to the coach.
Hamonic/JT/Beau/Barzal are special players...
Bailey was never developed..he was forced to play in the NHL..not because he was anything special...The team just sucked.
Reinhart...He would have not made ANY team...he's just too slow. That was drafting..I think we thought he'd excel even more, but didn't realize he just piqued early.
The reason why they draft NCAA is to control contract signings. It's foresight. I agree, they should go for Europeans more...I just think as a business, you want to have as much flexibility as possible and the difference between drafting a player from NCAA or Europe...is not a whole lot, so might as well go for NCAA players.
Back to Prospects..
I wanted to know the difference between Hayton and Beau since they are both 2-way forwards and play a solid game.
Holy hell...Hayton sounds like a better version of Beau.
2018 NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Barrett Hayton
"He has the talent to be a top-line player in the NHL, but more importantly, he has the mind and hockey IQ to make an impact in any role. The team that drafts Hayton will know they are getting an NHLer, it’s just a matter of how high he climbs the depth chart."