I understand the general malaise around the draft given what went down. But i'm kinda confused as to how these specific bolded items are "bad things" to be appalled with. He traded a pair of AHL free agents. That's soooooooo appalling.Like...what?
On the rest of this whole tirade, i'm kinda confused. It honestly just comes across a lot like you're a bit sour that there isn't more near-term help coming for Utica. That's not what the draft is for.
When it comes to a 4th round pick vs a 7th round pick...for any of them that are actually going to pan out, the timeline is generally pretty indistinguishable. Once you're outside the Top-60 picks or so...you're talking about throwing darts, with prolonged development timelines. Unless you do strike gold and have an absolutely one in thousands sort of "boom" on your hands with a rare accelerated timeline. Especially when it comes to a draft that looked like this...where i didn't see an overload of great "value" in the 4th round. If you're not in love with the middle-rounds and feel like you've already gone off the precipice into "late round darts" territory of the draft, why not diversify and double your darts thrown?
What does it hurt that they selected some guys who aren't going to be in Utica for 2-3 years and might even have to spend a couple years there on top of it? What does it hurt (other than Utica) that they grabbed some Euro/NCAA bound guys who if they pan out as well as Gaudette...may never step foot in the AHL for even a full year? Especially when you've listed off a plethora of guys who have hit the AHL and not really progressed, including some fairly high Top-90 sort of picks. Can you blame them for maybe wanting to lean on other "3rd party" developmental systems they've had better results with like NCAA and Euro leagues? Many of those higher pick infusions to the Utica roster will still be there next year, to continue "developing" in Utica. You of all people, should understand that you can only have so many kids in the fold at once, if you hope to be at all competitive in the AHL. You need room for those veterans to help stabilize things.
Like, i'd probably worry about Utica showing some sort of ability to legitimately groom and improve, and eventually graduate some of those 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks they've received...before i get all "appalled" at trading down a handful of spots in the 4th round crapshoot to secure an extra late round dart. And how that's so focused on immediate return, compared to your gripings about a 7th rounder being further away than a slightly higher 4th rounder or whatever.
You missed the whole point and your own lecture/tirade is off base.
