Conventional wisdom holds that you can have a contending lineup or an elite prospect pool, but you can't have both. That wasn't always the case for the Colorado Avalanche, but years of prioritizing the present at the expense of the future has seen the standing of their system diminish.

And you know what? A Stanley Cup victory later, I don't think anyone concerned with the team is all that bothered. That's just the price of doing business. Prospects are a means to an end, and the Avs found a way to leverage their diligent work at the draft table into the sport's ultimate prize.

It's not like this system is without its strong points, either. A pair of high-profile graduations in Bowen Byram and Alex Newhook has left this group without any star power, but there's a handful of players in the wings who could one day fill in as adequate depth pieces at the NHL level, at the very least. And that may just be enough to help pry this contention window open for a few years longer.