Many of you are tremendously short sighted and single minded. Thinking that having a .550 record and a bunch of fruitless playoff appearances is somehow better than being a non-playoff team who eventually drafts their own version of Jack Eichel and Quinn Hughes is unbelievably narrow minded. Going through 4-5 years of being a bottom feeder watching THIS team would be unbearable. 4-5 years of watching this team plus a rookie Stutzle and rookie Makar would be exciting and give you tons of hope for the future. Barkov and Morrisey. Matthews and Dahlin. Aho and Heiskanen. It doesn’t matter; every combination is better than what we have (of course we literally had a cursed 1/2 OA somehow).
Of course many rebuilds fail. You need a mixture of many things - one being a solid GM, but another which we will always have is the ability to attract talent despite not being competitive at that time. Buffalo would need a massive resurgence to attract UFAs. Even with McDavid, not many want to play in Canada and almost no one wants to play in Edmonton. Even Pittsburgh with Crosby and Malkin wasn’t exactly a destination. NYC always will be. Chicago had a rebuild and it resulted in 3 Cups. They’re very early in a rebuild right now and have good pieces in place. They’re an O6 team that doesn’t have trouble attracting players. Don’t compare our situation to teams like Buffalo. They’re a master class in mismanagement. They could have Eichel/Thompson/Reinhart/Dahlin/Power as their core. The Devils may not have had much success yet, but you’re nothing but a homer if you don’t see that they are positioned light years ahead of us right now. They did their rebuild well. The next 3-5 years is what’s important in judging them, not the recent past.
We could rebuild faster and more effectively than many teams, especially if we were willing to cash in our largest chips before their clauses kick in and render them valueless due to NMCs. You think we win the Cup next year, when a Fox is 28 and Shesty is 30? You think we just need 2 years? Fox is 29 and Shesty 31. 3 years? Fox is 30 now. He’s probably faster than ever. Personally? I wouldn’t put down $100 for a chance at $1,000,000 that we win within 2 years. So we’re at least looking at 30 year old Fox and 32 year old Shesterkin who are both worthless because they have NMCs that allow them to choose where they go, if anywhere. This team doesn’t have a bright future. You can call it gloom casting and whatever other cutesie name you want to give it, but most of you are simply living in denial. I would love one of you to outline a realistic path to success within 24 months instead of just claiming I’m being dramatic. We are 100% firmly entrenched in the worst place possible - no man’s land. Those of you who prefer narrowly missing the playoffs or getting 6 post season games a year over trying to correctly build a winner are exactly what keeps Dolan cashing in on the playoff revenue.
Of course many rebuilds fail. You need a mixture of many things - one being a solid GM, but another which we will always have is the ability to attract talent despite not being competitive at that time. Buffalo would need a massive resurgence to attract UFAs. Even with McDavid, not many want to play in Canada and almost no one wants to play in Edmonton. Even Pittsburgh with Crosby and Malkin wasn’t exactly a destination. NYC always will be. Chicago had a rebuild and it resulted in 3 Cups. They’re very early in a rebuild right now and have good pieces in place. They’re an O6 team that doesn’t have trouble attracting players. Don’t compare our situation to teams like Buffalo. They’re a master class in mismanagement. They could have Eichel/Thompson/Reinhart/Dahlin/Power as their core. The Devils may not have had much success yet, but you’re nothing but a homer if you don’t see that they are positioned light years ahead of us right now. They did their rebuild well. The next 3-5 years is what’s important in judging them, not the recent past.
We could rebuild faster and more effectively than many teams, especially if we were willing to cash in our largest chips before their clauses kick in and render them valueless due to NMCs. You think we win the Cup next year, when a Fox is 28 and Shesty is 30? You think we just need 2 years? Fox is 29 and Shesty 31. 3 years? Fox is 30 now. He’s probably faster than ever. Personally? I wouldn’t put down $100 for a chance at $1,000,000 that we win within 2 years. So we’re at least looking at 30 year old Fox and 32 year old Shesterkin who are both worthless because they have NMCs that allow them to choose where they go, if anywhere. This team doesn’t have a bright future. You can call it gloom casting and whatever other cutesie name you want to give it, but most of you are simply living in denial. I would love one of you to outline a realistic path to success within 24 months instead of just claiming I’m being dramatic. We are 100% firmly entrenched in the worst place possible - no man’s land. Those of you who prefer narrowly missing the playoffs or getting 6 post season games a year over trying to correctly build a winner are exactly what keeps Dolan cashing in on the playoff revenue.
