For teams like the Avs, Oilers, etc., it's the mindset that there's always tomorrow. It's easy to think this time will be different, or to get swept away in fantasy projections. Sometimes, it's the only refuge fans have. Look at some of the discussions we see on here, and we're about a year our from "The Letter." Now add multiple years to that noise.
However, just like there's a risk in moving too much young talent for a "win-now" approach, there's also the inherent risk of falling a bit too much for your own prospects.
The truth of the matter is that a lot of this teams have had the opportunity to draft elite pieces, and that's half the battle right there. But the difference in their fortunes is how they do with the other half of the equation --- surrounding said talent and building a team. That comes through development, the ability to find talent that isn't staring you in the face, trading, free agents, etc.
The difference between a team like Tampa, and say the Avs, is the ability to do the second half of the equation. They landed their elite talents in Hedman and Stamkos, and then they surrounded them with top end talents they found outside the first, made trades from the depth they acquired, and signed guys when they needed to. Along the way, they also uncovered another elite talent in Kucherov.
Along the way, they've had some pretty big misses as well --- Connolly, Koekkeok, Drouin and others were either disappointments, or flat out busts for them. But they did well enough in other areas that they were able to cover for it and move forward. (Something to consider when we look for perfection from the Rangers.)
So in the end, it's not even that the Avs had to hit every pick and transaction out of the park to be successful. But they couldn't be abysmal either, and too often they've been abysmal.
