Well I mean you aren't wrong. Patrice Bergeron was drafted #45 in 2003 while Zherdev went 4th overall. Stuff like that happens all the time. Zherdev wasn't a bad player but didn't stick around long and went to the KHL for most of his playing career, so you could call picking him a bust
What's crazy about Zherdev, he was still playing this season, all these years later. In the Italian 2nd division at almost 40 years old. Most would have thought he retired years ago.
I think Zherdev is a bit overhated as bust goes. He had some good years in the NHL and left while he was still pretty young. He just chose to go play in the KHL. Had he played his 15 year career in the NHL bouncing around team to team people go "oh he was OK" and not call him out as being a big bust, but since he went to KHL, which was a personal choice to be closer to home and also had to do with money and what the KHL could offer, he gets cited as this big bust. Which goes to show how people think about things. That pick wouldn't be a lot better for Columbus if he played for 8 different NHL teams, the impact for them is the same regardless.
That's why looking at just NHL games played is a deceptive way of thinking about it. If the guy goes on to a long NHL career but only makes a small impact for the Drafting team, that's not suddenly some great pick.