Uhhh, i think you need to look at some of the players picked in 2nd round or later by our previous GMs.
I am well- (and painfully) aware of our draft record. But I think you're projecting future success on guys who haven't yet proven anything.
Chayka's legacy is basically "On paper, this will work." I was one of the very few who liked the trade of 7OA + DeAngelo for Stepan and Raanta.
Loved that trade. In hindsight, we won the trade pretty handily - DeAngelo is likely going to be out of the league for good after today's buyout, and there's no indication that Lias Andersson (an
awful off-the-board pick, again in hindsight) is going to go very far. Except that Stepan basically single-handedly curdled our locker room vibe into "bro country," and Raanta is, of course, made entirely of glass. Similarly, the trade for Taylor Hall was a gamble that, on paper, was a great move... except that in practice, Hall's addition ended up being the catalyst for nothing but a titanic losing streak. Now, you could blame that on Tocchet or whatever, but the fact remains that the transition from the spreadsheet to real life robbed Chayka's best-laid plans of their ROI.
Even if you chalk up Garland to Chayka, the Garland Chayka drafted was never going to make the NHL. It was Mike Van Ryn's come-to-Jesus meeting with Garland, and a lot of elbow grease on Garland's part to completely reinvent his game, that resulted in him having a "meaningful professional career."
So I guess what I'm saying here is that to exonerate Puck Farkus as a great hockey mind based on projecting success on a bunch of futures is a bad idea. For the sake of our franchise, it'd be nice if you were right about his draft picks' potential. I'd also love to see Clayton Keller turn into the star player Chayka thought he was instead of remaining a titanically overpaid undersized complementary winger.
We'll see what time and life have to say about it.