I'm suggesting that if teams were able to draft for need and fill holes via the draft that you would be less likely to see cases like this. Adam Fox looks at Carolina and says, this isn't a good fit for me. I'm way down the depth chart. If Fox is drafted at 20, when he's NHL ready, he's more likely getting drafted by a team that has a need at RD and I think, would be more likely to stay with his drafted team.
Except this one is bad. This isn't baseball where teams have A, A+, AA, AAA and prospects actually go through all of those systems and make the MLB. Baseball drafts players and they go directly into their systems, and if they refuse to sign they'll go back into the draft. And they actually fill needs on all those teams throughout their organization. CHL players can rarely join an AHL team before their 20 year old season, most Europeans have contracts to at least 20 and outside the 1st round don't have out clauses thus don't even come to training camp and NCAA players have to forfeit their eligibility.
Hockey meanwhile, drafts these players at 18, with only about 3% playing in the NHL, another 4% might play at 19. And yet almost none of those 18 and 19 year-olds will have spent a day playing on a team inside their organizations farm system.
In my opinion, and I know it's only that, a system that would draft a player into an organization that needs him is not only better for the team but the player too. And that's not just for NCAA players. Just because there might be more instant gratification doesn't mean it's worse.
