It's odd to say "we need to be stocking picks" because we have been. We had two first round picks in 2016 (F Jones, C Steel) and another two first round picks in 2019 (C Zegras, LW Tracey). They're just not yet developed for the NHL level. I've already recounted the Oil's decade of top-3 picks for several years and eventually one was a hit in McDavid. In that decade, they've seen the playoffs once. I don't want to be mired for a decade in perpetual failure.
Last year, GM Murray revealed it was bad coaching. This year, GM Murray pushed the youth after stating there was going to be competition, to my dismay. That gamble has failed so far as our youth apparently are still too young. But our consistent nemesis is mass injuries to our roster. I have no idea who's going to be in the lineup from game to game as some of those injuries are also classified as sickness/flu-related. I like knowing we do have a set top-4 in defense along with Gibby in net. We're simply waiting on the youth forwards to catch up to NHL speed, if they ever, in Ritchie, Kase, Steel, Terry, Comtois, Jones, and Lundestrom - all who are or have been available to the NHL club. We have a few more waiting in the wings at juniors/NCAA in Zegras, Tracey, and Groulx. That's 10 youthful forwards that the Ducks have invested in such that a couple or more can be successful at the NHL level consistently, with three of them a couple of years away. We might have hit on another 5th round gem in 2019's Trevor Janicke. We also get another first round pick next year.
But to start tanking now seems very odd b/c it may take even longer as the future draftees may take some time to develop while leaving the NHL club without needed top veterans. I'll tolerate sacrificing this year for our youth forward movement knowing there was a plan in place. It's still a gamble, but it's an extreme gamble to trade away Silf, Rakell, GIbby, etc... because there's a hitch for the time being. Take a look at Zegras, the ninth pick overall where one GM had him rated 3rd overall. Z is still an extra year or two away from the pros b/c he physically will be owned right now.
2019 1st pick overall C Jack Hughes: 36 games, 16 pts (6g), - 10 plus/minus, 37.5% FO wins, 29.8% Def zone starts
2016 30th pick overall C Sam Steel: 36 games, 13 pts (3g), - 11 plus/minus, 52.3% FO wins, 41.2% Def zone starts
There's a significant difference between 1st overall and 30th overall in talent. The route we're taking is a different one that might take a bit longer. We've stockpiled picks, but we're still waiting. We traded D Montour at the trade deadline last year to grab another 1st rounder in the 2019 draft and a D prospect that might still be years away (lol). But trading away Monty didn't hurt the team last year as they went on a tear to close the season out. With the great fortune of Pitt giving us another trash to treasures story in Gudbranson, we're set with our top-4 until 2021 and have the luxury to wait for Larsson or Guhle to develop into a top-4 role (if ever... still dunno. we could re-sign Gudz to a favorable contract seeing how he might only be valuable in Anaheim like C Grant is).
We've reached a game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals with a great goaltender and a bunch of rag-tag players that all meshed. It doesn't make any sense to trade Gibby away right now b/c we don't have another netminder that can replace him today. In a couple of years, we could have that possibility if Dostal keeps his play up throughout. Gibby with our defense at least keeps us near a playoff horizon, when fully healthy.
