You're glossing over the fact that outside of the Bruins, every recent SC winning team has had that one go-to offensive weapon (Kopitar, Kane, Crosby, Datsyuk, Getzlaf, Staal). Right now, we don't have that sure-fire go-to offensive weapon prospect. Sure, MAYBE Reinhart develops into a guy like Toews. MAYBE Grigorenko develops into a guy like Kopitar. McEichel doesn't win us a Cup....but it gets us a heckuva lot closer.
And to your "Getzlaf fell into the teens" comment --- it's a rare occurence that a franchise-caliber guy falls outside the top 5 or 10. It happens maybe once or twice every 3-4 drafts. Something like that strikes me as more luck than quality scouting.
Not exactly true. First of all, don't ignore the Bruins. Their model has worked quite well. Second of all, if you look at the Kings' playoff stats, Kopitar was never the "one go-to offensive weapon."
Last year, Kopitar led the team with 26 playoff points, but Carter and Williams each had 25 points, and Gaborik had 22. Also, Kopitar only had 5 goals, compared to Gaborik (14), Carter (10), Williams (9), Toffoli (7), Brown (6), Muzzin (6) and Doughty and Martinez also with 5.
In 2012, Brown and Carter matched Kopitar for goals, and they primarily won the Cup that year through defense and goaltending anyway.
When the Blackhawks won in 2013, Kane had the most points by a slim margin, but Sharp was the leading goal scorer, and Bickell tied Kane in goals. Toews and Keith had the most assists.
Bottom line - you need high quality depth to win the Cup.
