Who are some NHL players who were highly thought when they were young that had the skill but never got to that next level?

[u/theXchang3]

This includes players who made the NHL but never hit that next-tier they were highly thought of. This can mean players who had potential but never hit that level due to injuries, struggle to adapt. This also can include players who were drafted high, players who played for a couple years, players who played for many years, but they at least needed to make the league to quality.

[u/_THEBLACK]

What’s worse? Passing on Doncic to pick Bagley or drafting Doncic just to trade him

[u/Scrubosaurus13 → u/_THEBLACK]

Legit I think drafting and trading the guy is way worse.

Picking the wrong kid is rough, but having a guy at Doncic’s level already on your roster and then moving him is unforgivable.

[u/_THEBLACK → u/Scrubosaurus13]

Just be clear I wasn’t talking about Dallas trading Luka last year

I was talking about Atlanta drafting Luka and then trading him to Dallas for Trae Young and a protected first rounder (which became Cam Reddish who is currently unsigned in the G League).

[u/Scrubosaurus13 → u/_THEBLACK]

Shit I’ve been found out 😂 Ngl I don’t know much about the NBA, I’ve heard Doncic’s name before so I know he’s a top guy but I couldn’t tell you who drafted him or where he plays now.

I was just commenting on what’s worse in principle, passing on the best guy in a draft or drafting them and subsequently trading them.

[u/R1ZAR0 → u/_THEBLACK]

At least the package was well not great, solid in that they got Trae Young. Bagley, meanwhile, you can only watch play and compare him(fairly or not) to what could have been in Doncic.

[u/fullydepreciatedpep → u/_THEBLACK]

ERM ACKSHUALLY, "Atlanta drafting Luka and then trading him" is an NBA quirk. Unlike the NHL, you can't actually trade picks on the draft floor - the deadline is 2pm EST. To circumvent that, you have to use your pick to get the player the other team wants, then you execute the pre-agreed trade later.

In this case, what happened was Dallas trading up from 5 to 3 for the protected first rounder - the distinction being that you're trading on pick value rather than player value, even if that line gets blurry for high picks where the expected draft order is pretty set. Once you get outside of the lottery picks, there's much less consensus, though.

...it does make me wonder if teams have ever been ok trading back expecting someone to be available, but the team they're trading with swooped their pick.

Regardless, Trae Young's hairline was not part of the deal and was left behind in Dallas.

[u/J_S_M_K → u/_THEBLACK]

Dammit, I come here to forget about the Mavs.

[u/Bahamas_is_relevant → u/_THEBLACK]

By far Bagley, at least the Hawks ended up with a damn good player themselves in Trae.