We next pick at 55 and 59. If he was anywhere from 21 to the 80's, he may or may not be there. I'm not saying this was a good or bad pick, if they felt this kid is what they want, then that's what it is.
If it were me and I had teams calling me about the 22nd pick, I probably would've moved down into the 30's to grab him and grab some extra draft capital.
The problem with draft capital, if you keep the picks and you get nothing out of it, but you get the player you want, you haven't "lost" anything per se but you may have given a team you're competing against a good player.
The year we traded down to draft Pickard is a good example as we got the player we wanted, unfortunately, he didn't pan out. We also got Taylor Beck out of that deal, who didn't pan out. Bad thing is, the player we could've had was Erik Karlsson. This is an extreme case scenario.
On the flip side, if you can grab the player you want, they pan out and the draft pick you landed in a deal pans out, you're golden. We complain that we gave up a 1st to get Paul Gaustad but got a 4th round pick back in that deal and we are signing that pick to an 8 year contract on Monday. Funny thing is, that 1st went to Calgary, who went on to pick Jankowski, who now plays for us.
Trades, drafts, free agent signings, player development are all calculated crap shoots. As a GM, you hope to be on the better end of the deals you make in the long run.
I'm all for taking big swings. I loved the Molendyk pick from last year. At the same time, do you take big swings for players that are within the range of where they should be picked or do you completely off the board? If you go off the board too much, while the reward may be better, the risk is also greater, once again leading me back to the point of making better moves in the long run.
We'll see how this turns out in 3-5 years. Until then, free agency starts on Monday and that's where the rubber meets the road.