Victims of "bad" tanks and rebuilds: How soon did you know something was going wrong?

[Jumptheshark]

You can read her mind "what the f*** are they doing"

 

[Pablo El Perro]

Once the broadcast crew was selling us on the Sawgrass Express line of, checks notes, Nate Horton, Lil' Stevie Weiss, and David Booth.

 

[nyr2k2]

Rangers fans have known for years that the team was horseshit 5v5 and not particularly difficult to play against, being overly reliant on special teams and goaltending. They made a few moves in the past few years to try to address that to varying success, but it was only a matter of time before it caught up with them.

I know a lot of people would consider the Rangers rebuild after "The Letter" to be pretty successful, but they didn't win a cup despite a couple ECF appearances and now it looks like they may have to find a way to blow it up again.

 

[belair]

Holy shit that just got worse and worse. The arrogance...

That's what got us McDavid.

 

[Guy Larose]

This lady should be a regular commentator. Would love to get her take on the Slavkofsky contract, Lane Hutson’s ranking, MSL, etc

She wanted Zadina lol

 

[BaileyFan]

When Rob Blake says that he views Nashville as the organization that he wants to model the team after.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

To me, it was when the Leafs shamelessly tried to cash in on nostalgia by bringing in Cliff Fletcher who tore the team apart and got nothing for it. The goal was to break up the "Muskoka Five" and begin the rebuild. Here's what he did:

Alex Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo traded for Lee Stempniak.
Darcy Tucker bought out after an 18 goal season.
Pavel Kubina for Garnet Exelby and... I want to say a fourth liner that never played for Toronto?
Bryan McCabe and a fourth for Mike Van Ryn.

He traded two solid veteran defenseman and their top young player for a whole lotta nothing. Couldn't get any picks or prospects. Couldn't even get a late pick for Tucker.

The McCabe deal was especially bad. While he was one of the higher paid defenseman in the league, he wasn't far removed from finishing third in defensive scoring. He brought physicality, leadership and a slapshot that could punch a hole in a battleship if he could get it on target. And the Leafs came away with 27 games of Mike Van Ryn.

For a team that had zero blue chip prospects, this was a horrific way to kick off the rebuild. Between Fletcher trading away established veterans for nothing and Ferguson trading away futures for over-the-hill rentals, it led to a period of mediocrity that took the combined efforts of four GMs (Burke, Nonis, Lamoriello and Dubas) to eventually crawl out of.

And still the team can't win. I hate being a Leafs fan.

 

[zombie kopitar]

When Rob Blake says that he views Nashville as the organization that he wants to model the team after.

A former dman saying he wants to run a franchise known for developing defense and goalies better at a top tier?

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

For the Leafs, in hindsight the signs were there prior to acquiring each of the big 4.

With Matthews, it should've been obvious when he chased money in Europe since he was "too good" for the CHL or NCAA. Marner was a diva in London already, the nonsense with his dad comes to mind. Speaking of, the shit apple didn't fall far from the shit tree with Nylander either, his dad was always a money first type too. And Tavares was already too far gone, having wasted the first decade of his career with a loser team.

The 4 of them have all of the talent in world, but only care about padding regular season stats and bank accounts.

I mean Matthews was to good for the CHL or NCAA, he went overseas and dominated a league full of older professional players.

Imagine what he would have done to the CHL or NCAA

 

[JKG33]

I mean Matthews was to good for the CHL or NCAA, he went overseas and dominated a league full of older professional players.

Imagine what he would have done to the CHL or NCAA

TIL being 10th in scoring is "dominating"

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

To me, it was when the Leafs shamelessly tried to cash in on nostalgia by bringing in Cliff Fletcher who tore the team apart and got nothing for it. The goal was to break up the "Muskoka Five" and begin the rebuild. Here's what he did:

Alex Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo traded for Lee Stempniak.
Darcy Tucker bought out after an 18 goal season.
Pavel Kubina for Garnet Exelby and... I want to say a fourth liner that never played for Toronto?
Bryan McCabe and a fourth for Mike Van Ryn.

He traded two solid veteran defenseman and their top young player for a whole lotta nothing. Couldn't get any picks or prospects. Couldn't even get a late pick for Tucker.

The McCabe deal was especially bad. While he was one of the higher paid defenseman in the league, he wasn't far removed from finishing third in defensive scoring. He brought physicality, leadership and a slapshot that could punch a hole in a battleship if he could get it on target. And the Leafs came away with 27 games of Mike Van Ryn.

For a team that had zero blue chip prospects, this was a horrific way to kick off the rebuild. Between Fletcher trading away established veterans for nothing and Ferguson trading away futures for over-the-hill rentals, it led to a period of mediocrity that took the combined efforts of four GMs (Burke, Nonis, Lamoriello and Dubas) to eventually crawl out of.

And still the team can't win. I hate being a Leafs fan.

I think the Kubina trade was Burke

TIL being 10th in scoring is "dominating"

I would suggest to you that being top 10 in scoring, in a professional league at 17 is dominant yes.

 

[JKG33]

I would suggest to you that being top 10 in scoring, in a professional league at 17 is dominant yes.

That's a very liberal use of the word.

If Matthews was so concerned about being too good for junior leagues, why didn't he sign in the best league in Sweden? Instead he went to Switzerland, which is a higher paid and better lifestyle league. But the on ice product in Sweden is superior.

Why was Matthews the first (and only player) to go that route? He's a great player, but there have been better prospects than him too. Yet they all stayed

 

[WarriorofTime]

Why was Matthews the first (and only player) to go that route? He's a great player, but there have been better prospects than him too. Yet they all stayed

Because he's the only one who (a) had a birthday that made it possible without sitting out like at least half a season, (b) was talented enough to be in-demand to give a foreign player spot to as a teenage 1-year rental and (c) wasn't already subject to a CHL standard player agreement that would make transferring out of it complicated

 

[JKG33]

Because he's the only one who (a) had a birthday that made it possible without sitting out like at least half a season, (b) was talented enough to be in-demand to give a foreign player spot to as a teenage 1-year rental and (c) wasn't already subject to a CHL standard player agreement that would make transferring out of it complicated

I know it's a super unique situation, but it still speaks to where his priorities are, and have been at every contract negotiation and playoff series

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Vibes are high in SJ because there are zero expectations and some of their kids look good.

It's because you can tell they're bad just because they're young. There's a ton of talent on the team and they play a fun style. They're exactly the type of team that i could see improving to a 100+ point team overnight a la Pittsburgh or Chicago in the 2000s.

 

[Pavels Dog]

It's because you can tell they're bad just because they're young. There's a ton of talent on the team and they play a fun style. They're exactly the type of team that i could see improving to a 100+ point team overnight a la Pittsburgh or Chicago in the 2000s.

It's certainly possible but I think a big barrier is that they don't have a single building-block d-man in place yet. Chicago had Keith/Seabrook etc., Pittsburgh had Gonchar who was a close to elite d-man at the time, and Letang who came up. Even Toronto when they improved to a playoff team had a Morgan Rielly with many years under his belt at that point.

A lot probably hinges on how quickly Dickinson can develop.