Lindbom has a lot of potential, more than he gets credit for because some people were very upset about when he was picked.
But drafts are a tricky business, and time and space is the only true way to judge them. It can be all too easy to get too depressed or excited about a draft before things shake out.
When I was working for the Rangers, I always used 1995 and 1997 as example of drafts that initially looked great, only to have the wheels fall off.
In summer 1996, both Christian Dube and Marc Savard looked like potential NHL centers, and Mike Martin and Alexei Vasiliev looked like they had shots to be NHL defenseman. In the end Dube, Martin and Vasiliev didn't pan out, and it was Savard and Dale Purinton who played in the NHL.
Ditto for the summer of 1999 when Cherneski, Jarvis and Henry looked like an incredibly promising trio of picks, and it looked like we had the potential for some late round surprises in York, Mottau, Linbom and Holmqvist.
Heck, even when things go well, they don't always go as expected. We've had a number of players from the 2011 draft in this organization play for us. But what if 2011 was like 2018 or 2019? What if we had multiple picks in the top 100? What if we had drafted all the players from that draft who played for our organization? Basically 2018 and 2019 with a steroid boost --- for the sake of having fun.
On June 26, 2011, we would have come away thinking we potentially had the our future 1-2 punch at center with Strome and Zibanejad. We'd have been thrilled to have three potential top 9 wingers in Miller, Puempel and Jensen, and a potential third line center/top 9 winger in Namestnikov.
We would've rounded that out with some potential second or third pairing defensemen in Morrow, Clendening and Sproul, and an intriguing goalie prospect in Hellberg.
Then we would've added organizational depth and guys who have shots in Fogarty, Paliotta, Catenacci, St. Croix, and some of the other guys we took flyers.
Now obviously that would be the most successful draft in Rangers history, but even still it would've had more misses and note quite's than best case scenario outcomes.
