they havent hit - or havent given a chance - to anyone outside round one.
mazur, hanas, lombardi, buium...
they dont bring anyone up until they have to (berggren, johannson, kasper) and once they get here, theyre not that bad! not world beaters, but theyre young with room to grow. instead we have to sit through compher and copp and fischer and motte and veleno middling along doing nothing badly but nothing well.
that's why i think the plan was always muddle through until next season. this season was always going to be a transition year.
but to stanley's point, they havent gotten any impact, star players out of any of the drafts so far. and the two real "finds" in the trade market (walman and vrana) had to be traded away with assets.
i give yzerman a little more slack than stanley, but he's got a definite point. they suck this year and its looking increasingly likely they dont have any stars to bail them out (although i have high hopes for asp, danielson, and mbn...probably too high). theyre old, capped out this year, and bad.
how much longer do you go with a gm whose strategy has brought you to the mushy middle? i dont think yzerman will leave until he wants to leave, but his vision is definitely in question now.