“Potential to build a top tier team”? That literally means nothing.
“Ability to match up against any quality of team?” This has not been shown. We’ve pretty much only lost in the first round, you have no clue what this team would look like in later rounds.
“Disadvantaged”? Also not true. We’ve been gifted numerous advantageous situations and still failed. Even if you want to say we play good teams early, we are also a good team in your eyes so our opponents are still “disadvantaged” yet find ways to win.
The quality potential of a team absolutely matters. Many teams do not have the rarest and most important pieces necessary to build a top tier team, let alone a consistent one. Many teams do not have real cup potential, even if everything falls their way. Teams don't throw that away for no reason. Many people here also like pretending that our cap allocation prevents having a top tier team, despite that already being proven false.
We have also shown that we can match up against any quality of team having any kind of run in the playoffs. Round is irrelevant. We have faced off against top tier teams in this league. We have faced off against cup finalists. We have faced teams/goalies having the run of their lives. We have done so through a period when we were probably the most disadvantaged team from the pandemic flat cap (especially considering the state of our prospect pool directly prior). Through significant injuries. Through suspensions. Etc. We always put up a battle; often the toughest one that team faces outside of the Cup finals. Obviously, the end outcome hasn't been what we've wanted yet, but it's much easier to break through with that one extra goal for or one less goal against than to take a giant leap backwards and rely on hopes and dreams to magically fix everything.
We're at a point where small differences in external factors alone can flip outcomes, and we now also have a rapidly rising cap, a refilled prospect pool with prospects graduating, a weakening division, our best players in their primes, etc. This is not the time to throw in the towel.
