here were anaheim’s resources entering the draft:
young F — bonino, palmieri, beleskey, etem, smith-pelly, w karlsson, rakell, arguably pat maroon
young D — fowler, lindholm, vatanen, manson, theodore, sbisa
pick — 10 (nick ritchie), 24 (mccann), 38 (mp3), 55 (montour)
i’m not sure i believe we prioritized bonino over getting a better dman or the higher pick given that he was swapped for sutter a year later even after a successful season. but who knows? i have never been able to see a consistent logic in any of benning’s decisions.
i do imagine that fowler and lindholm were the non-starters from anaheim’s end, though.