Excerpt from the above article from John McGourty of NHL.com:
Best Athlete vs. Specific Need
When asked to choose between filling a specific need or choosing the best available athlete, any team executive – NHL or otherwise – almost always will pick “best athlete.”
“Best available athlete, always,” said Washington Capitals General Manager George McPhee.
“Definitely, best athlete,” said Don Boyd, the director of player personnel for the Columbus Blue Jackets. “The majority of these players won’t be on NHL rosters this fall, so you’re looking at players who will be joining your team two or three or four years from now, a time when your specific need is likely to be quite different. There’s also the tradition of drafting the best available athletes so that you have talent to trade to meet your specific needs, should the situation arise.
“I would estimate that two or three of the players drafted in the top 10 will play in the NHL this season and perhaps 10 players from the entire draft will play in the NHL this season,” Boyd continued. “In almost every season, there is a player from the lower rounds who surprises and plays that year in the NHL.”
“Always take the best available player,” said Brad Treliving, assistant general manager of the Phoenix Coyotes. “Obtain the best possible assets for your team.”
Chicago Blackhawks General Manger Dale Tallon, though, goes the other way.
“Specific needs, this year, I think,” he said. “We’re drafting 10th, so we’ll be getting a pretty good player, most likely. We have had several recent years of good drafts. Many of those players are on our rosters and many more are moving in the right direction toward joining our team. So this year we might be willing to draft a player that we think can help us right away.
“Generally you want to draft the best available athlete, as we did a few years ago with Duncan Keith, who was 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds at age 18 when we drafted him in the second round in 2002. Now, Duncan is 24 years old and he’s 6-foot-1 and 193 pounds. Obviously we didn’t draft Duncan for his body at that age; we liked his feet. He was one of the best skaters in that draft.”
“There are definitely situations in which you would draft to fill a specific need,” said David Conte, the New Jersey Devils’ executive vice president, hockey operations, and director of scouting. “Particularly if there are two players that you feel are equal in ability, then you choose the one who fills your needs. As you go lower in the draft – third round, fourth round and below – then a team is increasingly likely to fill specific needs. You don’t want to come here and draft five defensemen or six goalies, you want your draft to provide players from a variety of positions.”