Well my thinking is, you never know what you'll get with a prospect until 2-3 years, even longer for defensive prospects (usually). The issue with Edmonton is that even with McDavid, it is a losing culture. You have to be truly proactive when rebuilding, you can't just tank.

Granted, the Wings will have a ton of money to make a run at some decent players that can fix holes and it wouldn't be a terrible idea to keep the pick.

The European scouting is what really set the Wings apart when they had their long run of playoff appearances. As you probably know, most teams were scared of taking Europeans, whereas the Wings were able to find diamonds late in rounds because of that great scouting network.
- Oilers4Life14

Agree with you on the prospect / draft picks. Even in the top 10 it's still a crapshoot. Not every pick is going to be a "hit". After watching Stevie Y as the architect in Tampa... and seeing how he works here... I'm guessing he won't trade any of his top picks for a few years as he's consistently kept preaching "patience". I do see him adding some good pieces in free agency if the opportunity presents itself or make a big trade that nobody sees coming... (like the Vrana for Mantha trade).

I hear what you're saying about McDavid and being in Edmonton. The problem in Edmonton right now is Holland. He overpays his veterans even after they get old and useless.. and he'll keep doing that to keep the team barely good enough to get into the playoffs and then get swept and/or lose in the first round... year after year. He does not like the concept of "rebuilds"... and that is recipe for disaster when your star players get older and less effective.

Agree with you on the prospect / draft picks. Even in the top 10 it's still a crapshoot. Not every pick is going to be a "hit". After watching Stevie Y as the architect in Tampa... and seeing how he works here... I'm guessing he won't trade any of his top picks for a few years as he's consistently kept preaching "patience". I do see him adding some good pieces in free agency if the opportunity presents itself or make a big trade that nobody sees coming... (like the Vrana for Mantha trade).

I hear what you're saying about McDavid and being in Edmonton. The problem in Edmonton right now is Holland. He overpays his veterans even after they get old and useless.. and he'll keep doing that to keep the team barely good enough to get into the playoffs and then get swept and/or lose in the first round... year after year. He does not like the concept of "rebuilds"... and that is recipe for disaster when your star players get older and less effective.
- Vladdie_Kon1

Yeah, I think tanking and just improving your team through the draft isn't a good way to rebuild a team. You have to be able to make trades that improve it while also having cap room. Chychrun would be a good add imo.

Oh god, it's not even Holland. Well, it is, but if I had to pin the blame, it has to go to Nicholson. The man has been responsible with all of McDavid's tenure here, yet its year 7 and they may not even make the playoffs. He's hired both Chiarelli and Holland, which yikes.

What's more is that he's waited to long to can either of them. I don't know how you can look at a first and second for Griffin Reinhart and say that's the GM of the future. While some of his trades made sense (Hall for Larsson and even Eberle for Strome), by the end of his tenure, he was making trades to save his ass.

Holland... it's too fresh. But trading a third (could be a second) and an okay 6D with potential for a 38-year-old, 10m over 2 years Keith... That's awful.

Holland and Tippett need to go, but so does Nicholson.