TBD, looking better, but again why shifting the goal posts?
Drafted the last 5-6 years and contributing NOW was being discussed no?
Oh boy to call this a stretch would be an understatement. And yeah perhaps I should have worded it better. No player taken in the last 5-6 years. Anyways, Stephenson and Djoos were one year wonders for bottom lines/pairings and Holtby fell off a cliff after the cup run but I give him that run, he was on point when they needed him.
Okay. Tampa: basically the whole team outside Stamkos, Vasi and Hedman.
Dallas: Hintz, Benn, Lindell.
Carolina: Aho, Slavin, Pesce
Boston: Pasta, Mcavoy and Debrusk are the only 1st rounders.
Nashville: Arvidsson, Ekholm, Josi
STL: Kyrou, Parayko, Dunn, Binnington.
I got tired tbh. There's a lot of such teams.
They've already shifted a few times. Benn (drafted 2007), Lindell (2012), Aho technically counts I guess but he was 35th overall so not exactly the caliber of prospect being discussed here, Slavin (also 2012), Pesce (2013), I'm not going to go through the Bruins whole roster but you can tell me how many of those players were late-round draft picks in the last 5-6 years. Even the guys I spot picked as notable, somewhat productive, and young were mostly 1st round picks or outside the window with the exception of... I think Carlo and Bjork. By the time you get to Grzelcyk (2012) and Kuraly (2011) you've gone too far, and their other young players (DeBrusk, McAvoy, Zboril, Ritchie, etc) are first round picks.
Arvidsson is 2014 so that's a no, Ekholm is 2009, Josi 2008, should I go on? Shit, Josi didn't even play an NHL game until 2011-12 and wasn't a 40 point serious contributor until 2013-14.
The whole premise of this is stupid and flawed. Asking to see
that kind of growth and impact from a late round pick where we can already definitively call them producers requires a trajectory and potential that generally elevates their draft stock, or has a potentially weird variable at play like Jamie Benn being drafted out of the BCHL. Not saying you can't do better there, I guess, but it's hit or miss and a lot of other teams missed too, you won't win them all.
To be clear, I'm not even saying that the Capitals late round drafting has been sufficiently good, this is just a stupid way to test it. Even most of the players who make their debut halfway into this 6 year window are mostly second round picks, and
all of them come on (at the time) bubble playoff/retooling teams. The Capitals aren't in a position to play this loaded dice game for a number of reasons (trading picks, deeper roster and significant playoff threat) and when you hit on as many 1st rounders as the Capitals do (play that game with Dallas, Boston, and St. Louis) you make it even harder.
wow, that got away from me.
TL;DR: this game is bullshit in a 6 year window and even half of the impact examples up there don't fit that mold.