I took Travis Boychuk with the 8th overall pick in the S37 VHL Entry Draft. At the time of the draft, I kept saying how active Boychuk was and how he was obviously deserving of the pick, just no one seemed to notice because of the time of night he was active. After the draft, a few people's immediate reactions were that Boychuk was a poor selection at that point and how I should have gone with this guy or that guy instead, or not have traded down, or any number of armchair GM statements. One common sentiment was that I should have taken Lars Strummer, and we all see how that one would have worked out. He's a welfare guy, and there's nothing wrong with that, except that he's missed three weeks of welfare. Point task guys, like Boychuk, have a little leeway to miss a task here or there. Welfare guys really don't.
(I'd also like to state that this is not a criticism of Strummer himself, merely the concept of taking him at 8th, considering his activity level. Strummer has the right to be a welfare guy and even to miss weeks, but it doesn't make him more valuable than Boychuk, not by a long shot.)
Keep it up, doubters.
Boychuk is easily deserving of the pick, and in a redraft I might not have even been able to get him at 8th. He's one of the leading candidates for rookie of the year, and is one of the biggest reasons why we're having relative success on the year.
People are going to come on and say things about hindsight, and how of course I know now that it was the right pick, but that's missing the point. I knew THEN that it was the right pick, because I MADE THE PICK. Hindsight is irrelevant.
tl;dr Boychuk is awesome.