It's going to be a long off-season and summer. This board will have projected Zacha's career a thousand times before puck drop next season, me included. I don't think he's smart enough or all that skilled enough to become the Getzlaf/Kopitar/etc-type that people, including Conte, may have envisioned on draft day. In the context of that draft, it doesn't look good, but bottom line is we got an NHL player with our pick.
Now Tedenby, Corrente, Matteau - those are terrible picks. Goddamn.
A main board thread brought an idea to mind, though, especially with respect to Zacha. NHL teams seem to overestimate how much of the game is teachable. The way information travels now, I find it hard to draft a kid with questionable IQ being that there are so many different ways to improve and learn the game with a click of a button. Motivated kids who eat, sleep and breathe hockey will show an obvious curve upward over time, Nico style. Which isn't to say some kids don't put it together later, but more often than not, with high end skill, morning shows the day.
