Meh, I just think it doesn't make sense to assume that a player will not make it. If that was the case, it wouldn't make sense to invest so much time/money from the organization into drafting/development. Teams would just pick whoever Bob McKenzie had them picking and then call it a day
Edit: failure in the last few years has to factor in things like traded draft picks/prospects, and the difficulty players would have cracking the lineup of a contender
EditX2: btw I am not really arguing with any of your premises, just that it is not necessarily realistic to be pessimistic. Realistic IMO is to have no concrete expectations one way or the other
- bezz44
Yup, the biggest problem I see is that during the Gillis/Vigneault years they were obsessed with project players rather than prospect development. I think that will really hurt us next season and the one after as I see no one right now at 23 or 24 years old poised to challenge for a first line spot. At this point in the sedins career(35...36 years old) they'll be declining back into 2nd/3rd line rolls, yet we have no one ready to step into first or even true second line rolls. I see us having no shortage of 3rd line challengers/4th line players, but our lack of definate top 6 guys coming up to challenge for top line rolls scares me. And this is a direct result of vigneault refusing to allow a rookie or two to experience growing pains in the nhl and work their way through experience and progress into a top 6 roll. It's a direct result of Gillis trying to trade for has beens, hopeing they'd pull it together again for a strong playoff run.
