No it's not. All experts agree that 2015 was one of the best drafts in history. This year is considered a weak draft. Travis Koecny for example would have gone top 10.
You are absolutely 100% correct. #21 in 2015 and the prospects that were available would easily be prospects taken in the 3-8 range this year no question. 2015 will go down as comparable to the 2003 draft as one of the best ever. In fact it may go down as being even better simply do to the high end talent at the top in McEichel. 2003 had the crazy depth of numerous legit top line forwards/top pairing Dmen but it lacked the really high end superstar talent. For example, the only players who have a decent chance to be 500+ career goal scorers are Corey Perry and Jeff Carter. Eric Staal, Thomas Vanek and Zach Parise have only a long shot chance to reach 500 career goals assuming they play until ~39/40 and score at a ~20-25 goal per season rate over the last 6-8 years of their careers. And in terms of total points, the projected 1170+ point scorers (which means top 50 all time of career scoring leaders in league history) is pretty much just Ryan Getzlaf, and Eric Staal has a very slim chance of obtaining it if he produces like he did this past season the last 6-7 years of his career.
Going back to 2015/#21 pick these are the guys we could have had over Lehner and that would easily be prospects drafted in the 3-8 range this year no question. It isn't even debatable, the following guys would be top 8 picks this year and virtually almost any other year too.
Colin White - I figured I'd start with him since he was the player drafted with the pick we traded to Ottawa. He's a 2 way center who has a good all around game. In fact he looks to be a RoR type player. We all know how beloved RoR is here in Buffalo, so adding a similar type player would have been really nice. Developmental/Background wise he is comparable to Mittelstadt in this years draft...an American who played in the USHL who is going to college. White had two great years production wise in the NCAA and is likely a full time nhler this upcoming year. Mittelstadt is a consensus 3-8 player this year and I'd much rather have White.
Ilya Samsonov- This is who went the pick after White/our pick. Even though the Capitals had Braden Holtby in the organization who is an elite top 5 goalie and was the same age Lehner is when the 2015 draft rolled around the Caps realized how good Samsonov was and drafted him. They realized getting an elite goalie prospect was worth it even though they already had a top 5 Vezina goalie not to mention Grubauer, who is another young goalie who could be a potential starter elsewhere. And yet the Caps still took Samsonov.
There have been 17 goalies who have been drafted in the first round since 2004. And there were 4 taken in the first in 2004 and 2006. So virtually half of the first round goalies taken in the last 13 years had been selected in just two drafts. There has been a lack of elite young goalie prospects since Carey Price. Which is why Samsonov would have been an amazing pick for us. He was the only goalie drafted in the first round from 2013-2016 and there's a decent chance the first goalie isn't taken until the first few picks in round 2. It's the way goalies have been rated/given priority in terms of draft status. Either way he is an elite goaltender prospect who has the potential to be a top 5-10 goalie. I wanted Samsonov at #21 that year badly. Long and short term this team would have been so much better off not trading for Lehner and instead drafting Samsonov and going with a Nilsson type goalie the last two years/next year or two until Samsonov is ready to take the reins. I mean for cripes sake we finished bottom 8 the last two years in a row WITH Lehner as our #1 goalie. We could have just as easily finished bottom 8 with a cheap Nilsson type goalie and instead of having a question mark long term which we have in Lehner, we could have a young high potential goalie on an ELC in Samsonov under team control for 7 years, instead we have Lehner
Brock Boeser - He was taken 2 spots after our pick. Vancouver is extremely high on him and for good reason. Yet again, another American drafted out of the USHL who had two great seasons in college and then a cup of coffee this year with Vancouver and put up 4 goals his first 9 games. Yet another player with a similar pedigree to consensus top 8 pick Mittelstadt who is definitely a better prospect. Boeser would have been a great addition to our forwards. If we kept 21 and drafted Boeser we almost assuredly pass on Nylander and went D in 2016 in Sergachev or Chychrun which everyone is up in arms today about.
Travis Konecny - He just had his rookie season this year and definitely looks to be a gamer. He would have been another solid pick and like Boeser, if we drafted Konecny we don't take Nylander and likely address D with #8 in 2016. He's already a solid player and again is a player Flyer fans love. He would have been a great player to Have.
Jack Roslovic - This is the guy who was drafted with ya know the THIRD 1st round pick we had. We had 3 1st rounders for the elite 2015 draft going into the 14-15 season and we end up with only one because idiot Murray trades two of them. Even though I like Kane I gladly would have passed on that trade if it meant keeping this #25 pick and taking Roslovic/Beauvillier/Aho etc... Roslovic is yet again another player that Jets fans are really high on.
And then here are some other players drafted in the vicinity of picks #21 and #25 that the Sabres owned...
Sebastian Ano - nuff said. Incredible player who is a budding star.
Brandon Carlo -
Imagine having Carlo in the fold instead of Lehner. But who needs a 21 year old rookie D who is already a proven top 4 D who is a lock to be a future top pairing Dman.
Anthony Beauvillier - yet another 2015 draft pick who had a really solid rookie campaign in his D+2 season.
So yeah, thanks a lot Murray! I'm so happy to have Robin Lehner who led us heroically to consecutive bottom 8 seasons. Any of these guys I listed above would be much much better players to have in the system instead of a 26 year old middle of the pack at best goalie who has a whopping single season under his belt where he played more then 36 games. It's crazy how much damage Tim Murray did to this franchise. The silver lining is that our owner realized his massive mistake in allowing LaFontaine to hire this buffoon and fired him so he wouldn't make another catastrophe type mistake. Pegula definitely realized how bad the Lehner move was.
Tim Murray trading TWO FIRSTS in one of the best drafts in NHL history is going to go down as one of the biggest blunders in NHL history. It's akin to the Coyotes giving up their 2003 1st for Daymond Langkow. Yeah Langkow played three years for the Coyotes and actually put up 3 decent seasons. But the Flyers used that first they got for him on some guy named Jeff Carter
and some other guys the Coyotes could have drafted if they kept that first....guys like Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Zach Parise, Brent Burns, Mike Richards, Brent Seabrook. Yeah, we may get some decent seasons out of Lehner. But just like the 2003 draft, long term the Sabres are going to ****ING regret trading a first round pick in one of the best drafts of all time for Robin freaking Lehner.
