For me, it wasn't so much the rankings as it was that during the months leading up to the draft, there was a handful of high end guys that were considered a step above the rest. Nugent-Hopkins, Landeskog, Huberdeau, Larsson, Couturier, Strome and Murphy have all had that high end, potential franchise player label slapped on them at times, and Zibanejad was always considered outside that elite group.
Obviously, players were drafted where they were for a reason, but after the year we had, I really wanted to swing for the fences. I like Zibanejad, but I still don't see the big offensive potential some of the others have, and point production up front is something we're still really hurting for in the prospect department.
There's a handful of guys that may be able to put up points in a supporting role, but there's no one we can pencil in as a cornerstone of the top line in the next few years.
Damn you, Craig Anderson.