Torts was defending Briere and Jones, not the organization.
Things have changed, I mean I have never heard them talk about rebuilding and the need for patience b/c it's going to take years.
Even when Hextall was given permission to "rebuild," they never called it a rebuild and insisted they would remain competitive.
And of course, Holmgren was adamant about not rebuilding when they hired Fletcher, and Barber convinced Scott they could "aggressively reload."
That's far more important than people want to admit, b/c even if you botch the first shot at a rebuild, you still accumulate a lot of resources, it took extreme incompetence by Buffalo to avoid building a good team.
