I wonder if Anton Silayev's "unicorn status" put more emphasis on taller/bigger players.
It's not that players like that frequently panned out - the Jackets have a long list of oddball draft picks selected for their size that never panned out (Kiel MacLeod, Per Mårs, Thomas Larkin, Kale Howarth, Anton Blomqvist).
Development could be the key and now far more effort is being placed on individual attention to players with develop coaches keeping in contact with draft picks during the season and not just letting the players develop on their own.
Who gets that type of development is what may have changed. Tanner Henricks has the size, but he didn't have a single goal and only 9 assists in 59 USHL games. There's dozens of under 6'0 defensemen in the CHL, Sweden and US that have higher production and may end up being very productive AHL defensemen. Those types of players can be invited to development camps and signed if they develop but maybe it's worth the chance to see if unicorns can be developed.
It may end up being a waste of draft picks, but I think the element that was missing before was actually developing the players.