I don't recall ever having a "let's just pick smart" stance. I do however, recall having a "picking in the top 5 doesn't guarantee you a good player or a championship" stance.
Then I agree with you.
But picking top 5 multiple times is almost a pre-requisite nowadays for teams to ice a contender in the cap era.
Proven commodities cost too much and can neuter a team that's cap-strapped.
You need players on ELC, bridge contracts or palatable long term contracts signed before RFA status expires.
These are typically players picked in the top 5.
In rare instances, elite players are moved under circumstantial trades (Neely, Seguin, Thornton) or stupid GM (Luongo), are late bloomers (Bertuzzi, Sedins, Sharp, Datysuk), had exponential growth in size and skills after draft year (Lucic, Benn, Zetteberg), or straight up fell for whatever reason (Couturier).
In our 3 eras of success, we relied on a lottery pick in Linden and Bure (who was considered a top 3 pick at the time but fell due to uncertainties), Naslund and Bertuzzi (deft trades with dumb GMs), and finally the Sedins (top 3 picks) and Luongo (more stoopid).
The supplementary players we acquired through drafts, trades and signings.
Our management has yet to make any moves or picks that show signs of becoming a high end core. The Canucks are a critical moment right now, similar to the Messier days and the Bertuzzi-Moore days. The team is falling apart, the core is getting too old and mentally fatigued.
We have a decent prospect pool at the moment, but there are no indications of a high end core outside of Horvat currently - the jury is out on Virtanen and Shinkaruk.
Right now, more than ever, we'll need a couple of top 5 picks or get extremely lucky. The latter is completely out of the management's control.