About 2025...how should I put it...
I wouldn't expect premium free agents to come rushing to sign with a perennial loser all of a sudden. That's what some of us are trying to say: the transition between rebuilding and competing is not a switch. You can't just hunt for a bottom 5 pick one year and expect to make the playoffs year after that.
Building a team is a continuum.
Anyways, I'm also certain the management understands that and will be active on the trade market. It just pisses me off that some on this board are ready to rationalize everything and try to paint going into next season with the same roster as some kind smart move. It's hilarious.
Posters are so brain broken they think NHL players think like tank fetishizers.
An NHL player isn't going to see 'Ah wow, the 14th place Canadiens lost a lot of one-goal games after finishing at the bottom for 3 years, add in Martin St.Louis, the great Reinbacher and surely they're on the cusp!'
No, they're going to see: 'Perpetual losers with constant bright lights.'
And that's going to lead a to a version of pay me or pass.