You can keep repeating BS....it doesn't make it true.
In 2017:
We had just graduated TK and Provy to the NHL and both had good rookie seasons
Ghost just finished year 2 of good play
We drafted the #2 in the draft in Patrick
We had Sanheim, Myers with top pairing upside
We had Morin, Hagg, Friedman as expected NHLers
We had Lindblom coming off SHL Player of the Year
We had Frost, Rubstov and Ratcliffe as 1st rd talent
We had WJC standouts Kase and Vorobyev
We had NCAA guys playing well in Laczynski, Allison and Marody
And still had guys with NHL upside in NAK, Laberge, etc...
You can try and pretend that we didn't have a good "skaters" pool under Hextall but it's a bold face lie. There is a reason we had a top prospect for for 3 straight years and also sent the most guys to the WJC multiple years.
And since we are in the goalie thread, in 2017 Hextall had drafted:
Hart-WHL goalie of the year and WJC starter
Sandstrom- WJC Goalie of the Tourney
Tomek- WJC played 2 games
Usti-just drafted
Fedotov
Woah, nelly.
Sanheim and Myers did not have top pairing upside, Provorov yes, not those two, that's like saying Bonk has top pairing upside.
Morin was a holdover who was a ??? Friedman was a scrub, 3rd pair upside like a lot of current D prospects. Hagg was a 3rd pair guy.
Lindholm was similar to Cates.
Rubtsov was a flop almost as soon as he was drafted, based on his D+1, D+2 seasons.
Ratcliffe was early in the 2nd rd, similar to Brink.
Kase and Vorobyev were WJC standouts, Zanetti looked good for Switzerland, WJC is nice but often misleading.
Laczynski and Marody had physical limitations to go with their college production, similar to Rizzo.
Frost and Farabee didn't get drafted until 2017 and 2018, 3-4 years after the "rebuild" started.
Hextall drafted no one who comes close to Michkov, Patrick and Gauthier were more on the same plane as prospects.
The 2014-15 team had a core of players, G (27), Simmonds (26), Voracek (25), B Schenn (23), Couts (22), Laughton (20), MDZ (24), L Schenn (25), Ghost (21).
Breire inherited TK (25), Frost (23), Tippett (23), Cates (23), Foerster (21), Sanheim (26), Provorov (26), York (22), Hart (24), Ersson (23)
Hextall started strong with the Coburn/Kimmo trades, then outside of picking up some 3rd rd and later picks, did nothing for 4 years until the Schenn trade to rebuild.
Briere is starting strong with the Provorov trade and dumping veterans, we'll see if he continues to rebuild.