That’s kind of the point, though. I’m not denying that most had Demidov ranked second, nor am I saying that people that ranked him second were wrong. But ultimately there was a debate and assorted teams ranked other players as better. Will the Hawks, Ducks, and Jackets all be right in their assessments? Maybe, probably not. But the point remained that there was wiggle room among teams and analysts, which by the very definition meant that there wasn’t consensus. It wasn’t a guaranteed McDavid then Eichel one and two or Tyler vs Taylor one vs two debate.
One team being very dumb and passing on a clear #2 happens, two teams doing that is weird, three teams doing means there apparently wasn’t actually a clear #2 in enough people’s heads. A supposedly second best forward in a given draft isn’t something that teams would aw shucks on because they already have forward depth unless there is a comparably high-ceiling defenseman. In that case, you have an argument for BPA vs positional need, as maybe Chicago did. But then two other teams decided that other forwards were better in their view.
From Eliteprospects:
Mostly twos, but three people/groups had him at third, and one big outlier at seven.