It was never supposed to take six years minimum just to get back to the playoffs.
No. It usually takes teams over a decade to rebuild. Look at the current Avs. 12+ Years. Oilers 15+ years. Carolina 10+ years. Buffalo, Columbus and Ottawa are on the 20+ year plan. NJ is over a decade now.
Who ever came up with some 5 year plan? Some video game? It takes 5 years just to get things moving, and that’s where they’re at. Especially with no lottery balls falling their way.
They’re right around where they should be. Their system is now loaded with some talented kids. They have to develop though. That doesn’t happen overnight. We’re literally just about where you’d be to start seeing kids coming through, and they already have two kids who’ve played 200 games and are on the verge of stardom.
I know it stinks to have patience but if you want a team who’s gonna win for a 10-12 year run, you have to go through these times. New Jersey still is and they’ve won the lottery twice recently, and had other Top 3 picks.
It’s always interesting to ask everyone complaining, what you would’ve done instead? Play kids way too early and ruin them? Ask Buffalo, Ottawa and the Oilers how that works out. You can’t reset the game if you don’t like how the lottery balls fall. Their average draft position is like 7th overall.
There’s 25 teams who would love to be in their position when it comes to the next decade, because that defense is gonna be so deep. Like I said, I know it’s frustrating but it is reality. What would be really bad, is not having a Top 1-3 prospect system now.