Teams w/ Best Recent Draft Record

[BamBam]

SB Nation Hockey

 

Not sure if this was posted already. If so I apologize.

Found an interesting story on the teams with the best recent draft record.

 

See the article for the chart and further info on the numbers that went into it.

In this study the Sabres ranked 2nd behind the Islanders. Some comments from the article are below.

 

The most effective overall team at the podium was the Islanders, but looking at their "career players", I see a number of players that I categorized as "surefire" bets to get to 200 games. Players like future Selke Trophy winner Frans Nielsen, Blake Comeau, and current Phoenix Coyote Petteri Nokelainen. If Mattias Weinhandl ever comes back from the KHL, the Islanders' overall numbers will improve a bit more. The Islanders were tied for the fifth-most effective team in the first round over this period and they were in the top one-third of the league in the third round and beyond.

 

The Sabres, Penguins and Canadiens all come in within a percentage point of each other, but all three got to their overall percentages in different ways. The Sabres were poor in the first round, going four for eight with notable busts Barrett Heisten and Artem Kryukov. They were slightly above average in the second round and nailed it in the later rounds going seven for forty-seven, and that 14.9% rate was the second-best in the league. That late-round success nabbed players like Ryan Miller, Paul Gaustad, Dennis Wideman, and Jan Hejda.

[carpandean]

Interesting, but the Sabres are also a build-from-within team that has been mediocre. So, if they choose to play a bunch of their own mediocre draft picks, then their numbers look better. However, in fairness, they've also only had one top-ten pick in a long time, and the first round really should be broken up more finely (e.g., top-5, top-15, rest of first round.)

[bunomatic]

I'm not sure how the grading works but if its based on how many picks are currently playing for the team it does'nt really mean squat other than the team in question does'nt look outside the organization for talent through trades or free agency which could mean they are incapable of attracting talent or incapable of trading. This seems to be where the sabres sit on this one. They have more picks playing for them because they're not capable of doing it any other way due to incompetence at the managerial level. But they sure can develope talent to later lose when said talent becomes too good for Buffaloes wallet.