Building a quality NHL roster requires a multi-year stretch of knocking the draft out of the park, signing value free agents and usually a lopsided trade or two. In most cases, teams that win the Stanley Cup have multiple players that were selected in the top ten of the draft as a foundation. Right now, the New York Rangers have three with a fourth on the way.
While the Rangers weren’t the team that drafted Mika Zibanejad back in 2011, thanks Ottawa, he was taken sixth overall. Sure, Lias Andersson is still growing as a player and yet to make a major impact at the NHL level, but he’s only 20-years-old.