This thread is awash with some of the worst hot takes I have seen in awhile.
I realize the OP asked you for misses or guys you wish you had taken recently. But, evaluating the draft recently with heavy handed statements is ripe for problems. I mean to each their own. But Rasmussen being a 19 year old and breaking into the league early and looks exactly what most teenagers look like in this league. That shouldn't be shocking, it isn't even really disappointing if you talk to hockey people.
Rasmussen has a lot of work to be an All-star 1st line net front guy, that is his ceiling. Givani Smith has a ton of work to do to be a 3rd or 4th line banger with some offense.
I would have taken Necas back then, but that is over why do we need to circle this. By the way Necas couldn't make a tangible impact in the league yet either and the other often talked about player is flaming out of his chances at the NHL entirely, glad we have apparently upgraded this argument somewhat to no longer include Vilardi and cherry pick Brannstrom. Also to be clear, neither of Necas or Vilardi are what they are either, well at least hopefully not in terms of Vilardi and the injuries for sure.
Hakan and Draper desperately wanted Andersson to fall. Take a look at his numbers or Mittlestadt's 19 year old numbers for those that are really upset.
In terms of some of this chatter I have heard Wilde was on our Do Not Draft list, that is what I heard when asking if we considered him early second. But still you need to give this 4 to 5 years before you can really go to town.
Rasmussen and Cholowski are two guys I am fascinated to see in camp. They are both hard workers by almost all accounts, I expect they are having a big off-season, I think both guys are working out with Larkin and Glendening too so that should help them. I think people are pretty quick to write off kids that struggle at first at the NHL level. It is perfectly normal, a lot of big stars have even struggled at first or took a little while to get there. I do expect improvements out of both guys, so I think the topic on those guys at least gets a little more interesting in their sophomore campaigns, what did they learn, what are they prepared for, how quickly do they adapt, how much faster do they play. Excited for it, we are not a great team, but I certainly enjoy watching several of our young players going through the process of become better and better pros. I do think they kept the professionalism alive in terms of the dressing room.