It will be longer than that.
It shouldn't have to be. It depends on the development of the various prospects we already have and how aggressive Murray wants to be after this season in trades.
Also, do not confuse draft picks with "Cup contending roster". A lot of guys never develop into what they should in this league. We may very well draft four studs with those picks you mention. Then again, none or only one may prove to be what we are looking for.
A bunch of draft picks are meaningless until they are realized into on-ice winners. We have to cross our fingers and hope Murray grabs the right guys.
True but I think you got a tad off track agreeing a little bit with this earlier statement ...
this supposed "rebuild" consists of a slew of slightly above average prospects who have demonstrated little actual development.
The level of ignorance displayed by that comment is astounding. Part of the problem on this board is the lack of patience with player development. Some posters don't realize that many of the very best players in the game took longer than posters are giving our current prospects to make the league or even reach their potential.
A few examples to make my point.
Forwards
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Getzlaf/Perry didn't make the NHL until the 3rd season after they were drafted. And they started that season in the AHL. The played 17 and 19 games respectively before getting called up for good. It took two seasons as 3rd liners before they emerged as the players we see today. That would be the 5th season after they were drafted.
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Giroux took until the 3rd season to get into the NHL. He actually played half the year in the AHL and half in the NHL. It was the 4th season after getting drafted when he finally was an NHLer out of camp and the 5th season post draft when he emerged as the player we see today.
Its very rare that a player juts steps into the league and is immediately an impact player. Even guys like Toews, Malkin and Backstrom didn't start in the NHL until a year after getting drafted. There several other examples of forwards like the ones I've shown.
Now compare where Girgs, Grigs, Armia, Reinhart, Baptiste, Fasching, Bailey, Carrier among others are in relation some of the time lines of development I've mentioned.
Defense
Here its even more pronounced the time needed for development.
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Karlsson made the league in the 2nd season after getting drafted and in the 4th season after getting drafted became the player we see now.
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Keith made the league in the 4th season after getting drafted and started to emerge as the player we see now in the 6th season after getting drafted.
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PK Subban took until the 4th season after getting drafted to make the NHL and arguably put it all together last year. Which would be the 7th season after getting drafted.
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Shea Weber It took until the 5th season after he was drafted to become a NHL regular out of camp and 2 more season after that to be the player we know today.
There are several more examples.
Now where do our prospects like Risto, Zadorov, McCabe and Pysyk look by comparison to those time lines?
I'm not saying we don't need to keep adding to the talent pool. Nor am I saying all these players will pan out. I'm also not saying that there arent 'the occasional studs that step right in and are amazing. But I think dimissing our prospect pool as being full of only
slightly above average prospects and prospects not showing any development as that pother poster did is pretty daft.