Really? Edmonton did a full rebuild, started in 2010 with Hall, hows that working out for them, that started a string of 6 top 5 picks, and 3 top 10 picks, and nothing to show for it yet.
Detroit started a full rebuild in 2018, 6 consectutive top 10 picks, nothing to show
Buffalo in 2013, 10 straight top 10 picks, nothing to show
Ottawa in 2018 etc...
Columbus....
The league is littered with teams that have rebuilt, and rebuilt, and rebuilt, and rebuilt.....
There is no absolute right or wrong way to do it, retooling or rebuilding. Much depends on drafting, your ‘scaffolding’ veteran players and management of the cap. You need to use assets wisely but much also depends on deal other GM’s are supposed to make. So statements that we should trade a player non of us wants for player x,y,z is always comical.
However whichever path you take you have to commit to it. I think that is where we’ve struggled because of the pivot and apparent rush to get into the playoffs (for whatever reason). I’ve always felt like it came from Luc but I guess it’s possible it came from above him. Perhaps AEG wanted the revenue stream after Covid but that’s a guess. Even though I didn’t agree with every move made by Blake it always felt like there was a plan and everyone seemed aligned. Then they pivoted and since then everything has felt rushed and disjointed.
I always felt the Fiala trade was good value and I really like him as a player but does he fit? The goaltending is an obvious faff and then there is the PLD trade. It seemed desperate in that there are so many questions around him PLUS even if we got the best version of him every night, it’s an overpayment.
If you are working to the right plan/strategy you get the right player at the right price. You always wait until those conditions are met but they clearly forced/rushed the deal.
Even if we get a deep run or two now, I really feel like they missed an opportunity. We could have had a team that would be highly competitive for a decade. Other teams getting it wrong also doesn’t get anyone off the hook. Equally I accept what they are trying to do is very, very hard… although that is why patience is so important.
That all said, sometimes you screw up and somehow pull it off anyway. Maybe they catch lightening in a bottle at the right moment and in which case I don’t care about any of the errors. There isn’t a championship team that hasn’t had a few errors on it’s journey.