2012, 2013, 2014 drafts have made up for six years of incompetence. That is impressive.
the funny thing is that a lot of these drafts before actually did yield players. The thing is that these later picks take time.
It is lack of picks that badly hurts.
2008 yielded hodgson who although isn't living up anywhere close to the expectations is an NHLer. Sauve was a poor pick but then there was no 3rd and 4th.
2009 - Rodin looks like he may still find his way back to the NHL at some point. May not have panned out but you can see that there was quality in that pick. Connauton is an NHL defenseman. Schroeder is an AHL/NHL tweener. Cannata is the starter in Utica.
2010 - once again severe lack of picks. Only Friesen who is a regular in Utica.
2011 - Jensen is struggling and time is running out. Grenier looks like he might become something. Labate is in his first pro year. Corrado is stuck in purgatory.
2012 - Gaunce looks to be an NHLer soon. Hutton is an NHLer. once again lack of picks.
2013 - Horvat is an NHLer. Shinkaruk looks to be adjusting well to the pro game. The rest are in their first pro season. Long ways to go but still lots of promise.
2014 - Mccann and Virtanen. Promising players with loads of time to grow. Missing only a 4th and had an extra 1st. Suddenly we have hits.
2015 - Way too early to judge. sounds good so far.
Picks are going to miss. They do for every team. Other picks need to be given 5-6 years to pan out.
The team lacks quality in its picks but a lot of that just has to do with a severe lack of picks in general. We all knew this would be the case for our team coming into these years though. The team went all in multiple times. They traded so many future assets.
Look how many picks the Blackhawks have had since 2000. It is ****ing mind boggling compared to the Canucks. There are tons of busts too.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00005218.html