Success drafting in the first round tends to be a sure-fire way to achieve success (unless you’re the Edmonton Oilers) in the NHL. Sure, the Tampa Bay Lightning have top picks like Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, and Andrei Vasilevskiy lead the way, but it’s been the unbeatable late-round drafting in the Steve Yzerman era that has made up for some terrible first-round choices. That being said, here is a list of all those terrible first-round choices. [Raw Charge]
This one goes a little bit against my significant upgrade criteria as Connolly has played in 346 career games and has established himself with the Washington Capitals.