I know this is probably a pretty dumb question, but I don't get why you need to build through the draft. Why couldn't a team be good by being mostly comprised of just ufa signings? Yes, the top guys are often very expensive in free agency, but if you just built a good depth team could you not just build a team thru free agency primarily and maybe a trade here and there?

You could and you can. We've watched Vegas do it this year. Who have they drafted that was an impact? The biggest thing you need is to be a good destination where players want to play. With drafted players, you get 8 years of loyalty so I'm assuming that's what the saying refers too. Arizona can't simply build through FA because nobody will go there unless they're overpaid.

The draft is the best way to get an influx of young talent, generally speaking, cup winners will have drafted their important pieces: Tampa drafted Kucherov, Hedman, Stamkos, Point, Vasy, Cirelli+, Pittsburgh had drafted Murray/Fleury, Letang, Malkin, Crosby, Guentzel, Rust+, Chicago had drafted Kane, Toews, Seabrook, Keith, Crawford, Hjalmarsson+, Colorado drafted Mackinnon, Rantanen, Landeskog, Makar

Draft picks are the guys that could play for your team for 20 years.

They are also likely to be the biggest difference makers on your team, especially when they are in their prime.

As opposed to aging UFA signings or rentals at the trade deadline that are more interested in cashing out with their next paycheque.

I'd also add that Cup winners are built on not only elite talent drafted in the first round, but also "diamonds-in-the-rough" drafted in later rounds as well.

Hope this helps.

There is an argument but then again VGK breaks that mold

And sure you can count the expansion but many of their original guys werent around when they finally won

Often they either left through FA or were traded


As VGK strategy to win was target the biggest toys either FA or Trade

And still early but SEA also be looking the same rn

Every NHL dynasty was built through the draft from the 70s on. Even when modern free agency started in the 90s this was still true. The Red Wings teams that went on to win 4 cups over two decades were largely comprised of draft picks. The Black Hawks and Penguins 3 cups in this century were led by a core of drafted players and the same is true with what Tampa has built. The recent cup win by Vegas is a special case of an expansion team that went for a win now approach. Even Seattle is building through the draft with Beniers and Wright down the middle.

Although their #1 center is already homegrown, as opposed to Vegas who has only had Nicolas Hague as a 2nd rounder with "draft success" that was meaningful in their cup run.

It's not impossible to do it thru free agency/ trades; as Vegas has largely proven.

I think the two biggest reasons why "building thru the draft" is the most efficient model:

1) Building a team identity, culture, and playing style takes several years. Drafted players are given a development model before they come close to making it to the NHL and when in the minors for their NHL team they have control over their development to fit into that playing style and prove their capabilities.

Free agent/trades doesn't leave much room for error, individual growth or development and puts a lot of pressure on building team chemistry and roles into a short timeframe.

2) Rookie contracts, ELC, and qualifying offers financially help the team to be able to afford premium talent (either homegrown or in trades/free agency).

In short, building thru the draft is never the sole way to bring in talent; it allows teams to do both; whereas not building thru the draft means you have to shoot the moon and if it doesn't work you can't afford to dig your way out of it.

It's pretty tough to fill out your roster with the necessary depth when you're paying your best players huge UFA-type salaries. When you lock them up as RFA's, or ideally, before they really break out, you drastically increase your chances of winning. That's why building through the Draft is so important. That's the formula that many teams have used. Teams like PIT, TBL, and BOS were all able to extend their homegrown elite talent at below market value. Had Sid not signed an extension in 2012 or gone UFA the following summer, he would've received $11M+ AAV on the open market. Pretty tough to imagine PIT winning those 2 Cups w/ Sid and Geno making a combined $22M+. Probably no HBK line if that were the case.Even if FLA had won this past season, it's highly unlikely they'd be real contenders for the next 5 years.

Vegas did win and they deserve all the credit in the world for building a championship team via trades and free agency. But, it's not sustainable. They're going to continue to get hammered by injuries, as most of their key players are 30+ and injury prone. They got the one but they won't get another.

I mean VGK #1 C was traded for

The only OG is really their #3 C

Their 2c was also traded for at a super discount what a find lul

Idk honestly if they played their cards right could have potentially added Debrincat would have required moving on from Barbashev but that was doable

Still have a chance to repeat but who knows

The obvious answer relates to cap management and the ability to build a full roster. But more to the heart of the matter, count how many of the last dozen Cup winners built through the draft and then count how many did it with expensive signings.

Spoiler alert: The latter count won't take long.

Vegas didn't break a mold as much as they only have existed for six years. And they've done most of their damage through an outlier amazing expansion draft and trades. Did anyone important come as a UFA besides Petro?

Made a list and surprisingly didnt know Whitecloud and Thompson were FA signings lul

Draft

Hague
Cotter (didnt play in playoffs)
Dorofeyev (didnt play in playoffs)

Through trades

Eichel
Barbashev
Stone
Kolesar
Roy
Stephenson
Howden
Martinez
Hill
Brossoit
Quick
Lehner


Expansion Draft

Smith
Theodore
Marchessault
Karlsson
McNabb


FA signing (NCAA/Normal)

Whitecloud
Pietrangelo
Thompson

Waiver Claims

Amadio

But either we they broke the mold as that team was mostly a band of misfits. Not much drafting whole lot of trading.

I’d suggest that it is difficult to field a full depth chart without the draft as a part of your system.

I feel that teams can go to extremes on a spectrum of how much they rely on the draft for their team, but I feel the lower limit is above “completely ignore” and the reason is tied to team depth.

This situation is one where only some teams could choose to do this. This being a team choosing to have very small to no draft and development footprint.

There is some small, relatively low number where; if that # of teams did this simultaneously there simply wouldn’t be the required # of players to do it. Only so many fruits on the vine. So it kind of stops itself from being trendy.

How much drafting can they have in six years? Especially considering how loose they are with trading picks.

I mean technically you can say VGK did do a good chunk of drafting when they started but they traded most of the guys away

The interesting thing is despite trading a good chunk of guys away there are some interesting guys to watch from their draft pool

Dorofeyev and Cotter to name a few

Hague is the one big hold out who im surprised was not traded along time ago along with the likes of Suzuki, Brannstrom, Glass, etc.

Man even though they won imagine Suzuki on that team that would have put them in the standard mold of how to build a team and not the gamble extreme mode

Reilly Smith and Theodore were trades as well. They happened around the expansion draft (and inarguably because of the expansion draft) but they weren't actually drafted.