This post by me in 2022 outlines it all:
I don't want fighting to ever leave the game completely, but I'm pretty satisfied with the direction the league has gone with it. I don't want staged fights and I don't want guys who are only in the lineup to fight. But I absolutely believe that fights between two guys who can actually play at...
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Since the salary cap was implemented, the Ducks in 2007, Red Wings in 2008, and VGK are the only teams to win without rostering a key player the team drafted in the top 5. But the Ducks had Selanne as a #10 pick and Pronger and Niedermeyer, two top 5 picks from other teams. The Wings managed to roster three Hall of Famers in Lidstrom, Zetterberg, and Datsyuk who were all drafted in later rounds. And VGK's top defenseman and top forward were top 5 picks from other teams. The 2011 Bruins also could count since they picked Seguin at #2 the year before the win and he was not a key contributor (nor a player they tanked to acquire since his draft pick was obtained via trade), but like the Wings they had multiple Hall of Fame players drafted from later rounds in Chara and Bergeron.
So the conclusion is drafting a key talent in the top 5 is all but a requirement for creating a Cup winning team in the salary cap era. Drafting in that position is not a guarantee you will be able to win, even if you hit on the pick, but with the current NHL landscape it's simply the only realistic way to get the talent needed to really win. The only exceptions are teams that managed to acquire that level of players via trade and/or free agency (but most GMs aren't stupid enough to let the franchise players they draft in the top 5 leave through free agency...) or through absolutely lucking into it with a later pick, but I think in the modern era even that has become increasingly unlikely due to better scouting worldwide. I'm not sure how true this is, but I know the Red Wings were often lauded for scouting Europe earlier and better than other NHL teams and that was in part supposedly how they managed to get guys like Lidstrom, Zetterberg, and Datsyuk. I think getting an advantage that way in the modern NHL is even harder than it was then.
It seems that Armstrong and Steen don't want to go that route, though, so I'll sit here hoping Lindstein is the next Lidstrom and Dvorsky is the next Zetterberg. Or something like that. I think, especially after we already got our first Cup under our belts, my stomach for bottoming out for one or two years is probably higher than it might have used to be to where I wish that was where Armstrong decided to take the team post-Petro, but I'm not going to root against the Blues even if they aren't being run how I would do it.