deadhead
Registered User
- Feb 26, 2014
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The lottery has complicated this strategy, now you have to be BOTH competent AND lucky.This is a complicated topic because you have to pick apart cases like the mid-aughts Penguins. You also have to draw the lines between when a team stopped. That’s almost never clear. Does Buffalo take a different course if they get McDavid instead of Eichel?
Penguins and Devils both purposely tanked for Lemieux. There’s no debate there.
The Leafs tanked for Matthews as you said.
The Senators (probably) tanked for Daigle. This is the toughest one to prove, but there was an official investigation and everything. This is part of why there’s a draft lottery.
The Coyotes tanked.
The Nordiques tanked.
Even then, Jersey got lucky twice with #1, Nico and Hughes, and still managed to finish behind the Flyers with better (still bad) goal tending.
6 top 10 picks in ten years, a massive investment in veterans to finish the job (Hamilton, Meier, Palat, etc.) and we still don't know if it'll work or they'll be Toronto East.
And even if it works, you still need luck, Colorado got McKinnon and Makar, yet over seven seasons, never got past round 2 except for one year when the Hockey Gods shined upon them.
Ask Zito, made a big push, gave up (2) 1st rd picks and Tippett (#10) to get swept in the 2nd rd, then went back to his process of incremental improvements with one big move, Huberdeau and Weegar and a 1st for Tkachuk, and took the next step.
It's not enough to "trust the process," you also have to be able to implement it.
That's the difference between Howie and Hinkie.