Calgary went scorched earth (save Giordano & Brodie), they got it going quickly while picking in the lower order of the lottery.
....of course they were gifted Dougie Hamilton.
I don't think there's any single way to build a Cup team in the modern NHL. But one thing is for sure, if you can buy low on a good asset you do it. (Subban, Kessel, Hamilton, Bishop, ect). It's more important than this top 5 pick rhetoric being spewed over and over again.
I'm still incredibly angry that we didn't get Dougie Hamilton. He was traded for the 14th or 15th pick (can't remember) and a couple of 2nds. We absolutely could have matched that's with the 9th pick and a 2nd. That is a trade that makes someone a contender. Hamilton was a top-10 defenseman this season and he's still only 24 and a RHD.
The fact that nobody has ponied up for Trouba yet is absolutely idiotic.
Elite young D can be acquired without top-5 picks and by trade. I will agree with you there. But elite centers are not available anywhere but by drafting top-5 with few exceptions. Let's look at elite centers in the league that weren't top-5 or were top-5 but got traded:
Getzlaf, Bergeron: late 1st and 2nd rounders in that absolutely stacked 2003 draft. I don't think that's going to happen again.
Kopitar: 11th overall pick that would have been top-5 easily (if not top-2) if it weren't for the fact that he's from Slovenia.
Schiefele: Insanely good scouting/luck, ie something that isn't going to happen to the Sharks. Still took a 7th overall pick to get.
Johansen: Required an elite young RHD who was drafted in the top-5 to get.
Thornton, Seguin: Idiotic trades made by the Bruins. Players whose character was slandered.
Other elite centers (including centers who were elite in their primes and centers who will be elite very very soon): Crosby, Malkin, McDavid, Stamkos, Tavares, Backstrom, Toews, Mackinnon, Barkov, Sedin, Eichel, Matthews, Draisaitl, Spezza.
Out of 21 elite centers, 7 were
either picked outside the top-5 or traded by the team that drafted them top-5. Of those seven, three were drafted top-5 and traded; the Thornton and Seguin traded were all-time bad trades and Johansen was one-for-one with another top-5 pick. Of the four that were not top-5 picks, one was a 7th overall, one was an 11th overall that was only not top-5 because of his ethnicity, and the other two were drafted in 2003.
I reiterate: it is nearly impossible to get an elite center outside the top-5. Half of the elite centers in this league that weren't drafted top-5 were from that stacked 2003 draft. One of them was passed over by the Sharks literally because he was Slovenian. And if you aren't going to pounce on players who have "character issues" like Thornton and Seguin, and like Trouba and Drouin, you will never ever get one.
Contrast this with top defensemen: Burns, Karlsson, Subban, Giordano, Hamilton, Brodie, Parayko, Lindholm, OEL, Trouba, Byfuglien, McDonagh, Faulk, Letang, Chara, Keith, Josi, etc. were all picked outside the top-5, and most of them were picked with first round picks of teams in playoff position or later, and quite a few of them were traded.
You don't need two top-5 picks. You need one. And you need to use it to draft a #1C. You can get top D other ways. You can get top-wingers other ways. And you get get good depth and a solid goaltender easily. But you need one top-5 pick to get a center.
