Its been a minute since we were able to draft and develop 3rd and 4th line players. Off the dome I can only think of Mcleod, Yip, Galiardi and David Jones and that was about 10 yrs ago.
The Sacco years. Was the team bad because he was a poor coach, we had poor players, or both? I do find it interesting that he was really able to get the best out of lower tier, and in most cases, non NHL players. Guys like Yip, Gali, Palushaj, Mauldin, Bordy, and Olver really didn't belong in the NHL. And he was also able to bring up guys like Jones, Stewart, Mcleod, and others and really brought out their best years.
Not that I'm saying he's a good NHL coach, but he did have a way of bringing out potential in players.