Why is it that we have sky-high expectations for Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser, Jake Virtanen or Jared McCann, but not for Brendan Gaunce? Those players were all drafted in the first rounds of their respective years by the Vancouver Canucks. Yet, we seem to get angry about Virtanen’s development and be totally fine with that of Gaunce.
The reason for that phenomenon is probably that, with time, we accept players for what they become. Don’t get me wrong, looking back at past drafts and analysing what could have been is a lot of fun (check out our redrafts here).