And we don't know if it ever will be even though we did what most wanted once PV got here. The irony of your comment is that we probably got the best prospect with our #9 than we did with the #6 and quite possibly even the #3. To say, high picks don't guarantee anything. They just increase the chances. Let's not also not forget at the time PV decided to tear down to the bones Drysdale had his 34 pt rookie season at 19 after the time in the AHL where IIRC he's was PPG.
What I mean from "bottom out naturally" is that we stopped trying to add external talent but didn't jettison the talent we had. We got the high picks while maintaining the support group around them. Imo that makes it easier to transition from a bottom feeder, like we are now, to being more completive. This summer proves that adding good players is hard when your team isn't doing well and hasn't been for years. We saw glimpses in 21-22 where we went from the 2nd worst to 10th worst, no matter how you slice it, it was forward growth. At that time we had 3 good young top picks, Terry breaking out and support with an aging Getzlaf, who we never replaced, among others to mentor the kids. We'll never know what we could have done if we continued to support that team rather than jettisoning the aging talent we had left. I get what the situation was, I do, and even now I can't fully disagree with the moves in a vacumn but we can't deny that it made the team worse, which of course, a lot of people wanted for the coveted chance at 1st which we have yet to win and the chances will ALWAYS be greater that we won't win than actually winning. Instead of Carlsson and Senneke we might have Benson and Buium but also have a lot less growth to do to become a good team. Instead, there is a very real chance that we finish bottom 5 again. That's 4 years with a bottom 5 finish in 5 years if we do. And a near miss at 6oa. 2 teams since 2010, from what I can tell, have done this. Florida and Buffalo. Florida missed on Gudbranson who was their first of the 4 in 2010 and was a bubble team by 2015 and in the playoffs by 2016, nor did they have a Z or Drysdale type prospect from their non bottom 5 finishes. Buffalo is still rebuilding. No other team has had more than 3. All this to say that this level of futility doesn't lead to cups. Teams generally start digging out of the hole after 3 years, which ironically we were before PV took over. Imo if we're not a bubble team this year than PVs rebuild will be suspect to say the least. This team really could have used some help to push them forward so all of that pressure wouldn't be on 19-23 year olds.
When you are talking about not "jettison[ing] the talent we had," are you referring to Lindholm, Manson, and Rakell? Manson had a decent year last year on an elite Colorado team, but he'd been mediocre at best before we traded him and was injured in 22-23. Rakell had a very solid season playing alongside Malkin in 22-23, but took a steep decline last season. Then there's Lindholm who has been his good self.
But we need to look at context: Lindholm (top of the league team), Manson (top of the league team), Rakell (middle of the league team, but playing alongside very good players). The Ducks could not have offered that environment to those guys, and we know how well they would have performed in the environment the Ducks offered. They were doing it before they were traded and all three of them were fine. Not great, but fine. And all three were approaching their 30s.
This also assumes that all three would have re-signed here. Lindholm seems like he was open to it based on his comments, and perhaps Manson, but we don't know about Rakell.
So what's the difference if those guys had stayed? The Ducks pick a couple spots later in 2022 and may or may not get Mintyukov. They certainly don't get Carlsson in 2023. But they're still bad. Adding Lindholm and Manson to this roster certainly would have made it better, but they're maybe 10-14 points better? I don't think that's worth losing Carlsson.
I also am not sure what pressure there is on the 19-23 year-olds. They're playing hockey in Anaheim, California for a team that's not expecting to contend. There is as little pressure on them as is possible in the NHL.
I want this team to be good as much as anyone. I hate the losing. But this team still would have lost the last two seasons, even with those guys. Bob Murray made sure of that. And they wouldn't have a potential franchise player to show for the losing. So we'd be Arizona without the exciting new owner. Maybe Ottawa. So when you say "this level of losing doesn't lead to Cups," I'm not sure what level of losing DOES lead to Cups. The Ducks would have lost less, but they would have lost. So would being the 8th-12th worst team in the league instead of bottom 3 lead to a Cup?
One thing we do know about Cup winners - they all have elite players, and the best way (in fact, realistically, the only way as a small market team) to get an elite player is to bottom out and hope draft luck goes your way. The Ducks did that for Carlsson. Now we wait, as painful as that is.