There's no doubt in my mind that rushing Lazar to the league before he was offensively-ready for the NHL and jerking him around the lineup has had a detrimental effect on his development as a player, but that doesn't change the fact that Lazar has always been a low-skill player. He produced in junior using his great speed and shot, but he never was the type of player to produce using his hands or playmaking ability. That has been obvious at every level he has played at. It can be most easily seen through his stats in his junior seasons; every year with the Oil Kings he had more goals than assists, and his first two seasons in the WHL he had almost twice as many goals as assists. As someone who follows the draft religiously, I can tell you that is a strong indicator of not only a lack of playmaking and vision but sometimes talent as well.
Even if his confidence is shot due to being rushed to the league and moved around the lineup frequently, he was never a guy that was going to produce more than 40-50 points a season. Realistically when we drafted him he had the potential to be a good middle 6 forward capable of producing a goal-heavy 30-40 points a season.
I compared him to Dan Paille when he was drafted because watching him play in the WHL in his draft year made it clear to me he was skill-challenged. Still I wasn't particularly upset at the pick because I knew Lazar was a safe pick that was almost guaranteed to end up a good bottom 6 player, which he will be. The only people who will be disappointed in the player Lazar ends up becoming are those who hopped on board the hype train after the Sens drafted him and believed him to be more than what he was - a player with limited offensive ability that made up for his lack of offense with a great two-way game, physical play and character.