It's easy to dissect the high-profile picks and see exactly what you could have had.
Being realistic, I don't know if any of Laf, Kakko, or Kravtsov were changing Rangers history if they were a different pick. For the former two, it never would have been a different pick, so it's bupkis.
The biggest miss was Andersson, and even then, who drafted after him is winning a Hart? Maybe you argue Jason Robertson is that good (he isn't) and that was 32 picks later, so it's not realistic.
It sucks, but I'm not sure you can pin "we've never had that kind of player in a million years" on those four picks.
I think a bigger issue, overall, is not going for more swings with later picks.
We always seem to go for floor if we go past like, pick 20. Beyond the first round, the Rangers aren't looking at you if you're under 6'3", and it's usually some "devil you know" CHL player. The one time they took a flier on a #MysteriousRussian (Buchnevich) he was pretty good actually.
I remember having the discussion after the most recent draft where people panned the Emery pick. "Oh, what do you want at 30?" Anybody who could be anything, not a guy that maybe is Brenden Dillon if everything goes right. There's no possible scenario where EJ Emery's ceiling player is the missing piece and you can't like, just sign him or trade for him.
Keep going with that draft. Boilard puts up ok numbers but he's 6'2". If he was that talented, he would have been gone. Aspinall is another big f***er. Maybe he's Adam Edstrom someday!!
I know I'm critiquing a bunch of random kids we just drafted in June, but realistically, which one of them is gonna be Brayden Point or Kirill Kaprisov? Look at 2023 (after GP). A defensive defenseman and bunch of tall f***ers. Where's your Nikita Kucherov from that group? They already don't have the numbers.
