Here is an interesting article in which I tend to agree. Look around the league. The teams that have gotten really good for the most part have done it mostly through the draft.
Accumulating high draft picks is usually a good way to rebuild.
The historic or great players are picked in the top 10 players in the draft. The best of the best are usually picked in the top 3 or 4.
We have been fortunate in that our young core - Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom and Green - have all been drafted by us in the first round, groomed and developed within our system. Some came to us via a trade of a vet player where we got a first round pick in return and some came where we earned the pick by being really bad the season before. There is a price to pay for picking high sad to say. Without pain, it is hard to get gain as far as the draft is concerned.
please get a goalie
On the other hand, look at Detroit and New Jersey. Since the ’92 draft, the highest pick the Wings have had is 19th, and the high pick the Devils have had is 10th. In the last 14 years they’ve combined for 1 top-10 pick, 1 season without playoffs, and 7 Cups in 9 appearances. They’ve never had to rebuild, and they’re *still* above the Caps in the standings.
If the Caps want to get to their level of success, McPhee and the scouts need to find players outside the first round. Like Detroit and New Jersey finding Verbeek at 43rd, Lidstrom at 53rd, Fedorov at 74th, Fetisov at 145th, Datsyuk at 171st, or Zetterberg at 210th.