Quoting: NHLfan10506
Was Lecavalier traded for a top-5 pick?
A top-2 pick in almost any year is likely a franchise-altering pick. Whether it’s Cooley, Wright, Skafkovsky … it would become a centerpiece to any teams rebuild.
Fine, "center piece of a rebuild" Let's do this. Draft picks can bust
or simply be decent/mediocre VERY easily. Can you get a Barkov....sure, but you could just as easily get a Ryan Murray. You're completely ignoring the downside and just saying the #2 OA is a guarantee.
2000 - DiPietro / Heatly - 50%
2001 - Kovy / Spezza - 100%
2002 - Nash / Lehtonen - 50%
2003 - MAF / Eric Staal - 100%
2004 - Ovi - Malkin - 100%
2005 - Crosby / Ryan - 50%
2006 - Johnson / Jordan Staal - 0%
2007 - Kane / JVR - 50%
2008 - Stamkos / Doughty - 100%
2009 - Tavares / Hedman - 100%
2010 - Hall / Seguin - meh...75%/75% I guess. Certainly neither have been franchise altering.
2011 - RNH - Landy - same...75%/75% neither of them worthy of the #1 or #2...they're decent players
2012 - Yak - Ryan Murray - 0%
2013 - MacK - Barkov - 100%
2014 - Ekblad - Reinhart - 0%
2015 - McDavid - Eichel - 100%
2016 - Matthews - Laine - 50%
2017 - Nico - Nolan - 0%
So 7 times out of 17 years have both picks actually been worth of top 2 selections.