Esko nails this and I've been saying this for a while now. Without elite level talent up front, teams don't win Cups. In 40 years as a GM, Poile has never drafted an elite level/HOF forward. It doesn't matter if you have a top 5 pick or not, teams find gems outside of the top 5 and even after the first round. Poile with all his years and wisdom has never found that secret sauce.
SD, even if Hynes could incorporate the young players into the mix, they're ceiling is either good to great, it won't be elite. I have enjoyed watching Glass, Parssinen and Novak play and they have injected some talent but at the end of the day, it won't be enough.
There is one caveat you can find enough quality talent to play up and down your lineup to make up for the lack of elite players at the top. You have your three top lines that are all essentially 2nd line talents and your fourth line is a third line. It may tip the scale enough to counter balance the lack of elite talent. What I view Poile does is build two solid second lines as his top two lines and builds conventional third and fourth lines and that is never enough talent to go all the way.
FYI, go back to when Poile was the GM in DC and look at the '91 draft. He had two late firsts and an early second. See the guys he picked and see all the guys who got picked before and after some of his picks. A few pretty good players left on the table.
