Don't know if any of these guys qualify as binkies, but guys I thought had more potential than they reached.
Chistov: picked high in the draft, thought he'd be able to show off his skill with another chance on a new team. Didn't work out that way.
Brandon Bochenski: I know some scouts were mad at this trade, but I thought he had some solid sniper talent. Horribly mishandled and guided here, ended up phasing away into obscurity.
Zach Hamill: always rooted for him, but yet another player picked high that didn't pan out. He was seen as a safe pick, but ended up being a pure bust.
Nokalainen (sp?): Thought he was a young version of a guy in the vein of Chris Kelly, but not quite sure why we over played him to lose another draft pick.
Tommy Cross: always held hope he was gonna be something more than he amounted to. Injuries sound like they screwed up his development, but another set of poor judgement of talent and use of assets (to move up)
Colborne: already mentioned, but on paper sounded like he had the potential, but couldn't make it.
Spooner: thought he had the potential to do a lot more if given the opportunity. Traded away and somewhere in Europe shortly after, but had higher hopes for him.
JFK: another promising, Bergeron-lite from the 2nd round, never quite panned out.
I'm sure there are a lot of others.
Guys I'm rooting for, but not quite sure they'll make it, TBD:
Beecher, thought he had a future as a middle 6 C, still have hope he will, but his offensive development has me worried.
Zboril: I know he's a polarizing player around here, and likely will never live up to his draft spot, but I think he still has top 4 upside in another organization that just gives him a place to play. Hard to get NHL playing time when the GM keeps signing/acquiring players above him on the depth chart. Bad enough to not play, too good to waive without worrying about losing him. So which is it?
Oscar Steen/Lauko/tweener forwards in Providence now: book is still out on them, but only a certain number of spots. Have hope for them, but realistically at least one of them is gonna end up on this list.
