There was a ton of luck involved with the "Wilkes-Barre 7" or whatever they were called. All of them, except maybe Dumoulin, got their big chance in Pittsburgh solely due to spots opening up via injuries. So it's not like Sully, even back then, was clamoring for youth; he used those guys because he had no choice.
Some of the guys who didn't pan out much (Tom Kuhnhackl, Scott Wilson) were better players at the AHL level than Rust and Sheary. Sundquist didn't pan out *here* but was just as good or better at the time (in the AHL) than the ones who did make it. Even Derrick "Fat Face" Poulliot looked good in the A back then. When Matt Murray pitched TWELVE shutouts one year for WBS, the experts said it was meaningless because of all the help from the veteran team in front of him and -- wait for it -- some guy named Jarry was the REAL star of the future for the Pens (he was a slightly higher draft pick, and younger). But Murray wasn't too shabby around here at first, now was he?
Naturally those guys didn't ALL didn't turn into solid NHL players, but who knows (and will we EVER know) if some of the guys we have down there now will ever become the next Bryan Rust or Conor Sheary or Brian Dumoulin or Matt Murray? Puustinen was doing very well up to this year despite the Sully-esque coaching from J.D. Forrest. Then there's Poulin and maybe some others don't seem like anything special yet (Gruden, Houde) and probably never will.
But the point is that, looking at their AHL production, nobody was salivating over Rust, Sheary, etc. THEN (and predicting they'd become 4, 5, 6 million dollar players), any more than they are all hot and bothered about today's "prospects" NOW. But sometimes luck happens -- if you let it.
