From your examples you're proving that Our Idiot is not the only one who can't build around a talented group. So simply tanking and collecting high draft picks is not a solution. You need a vision. That's what this team - or any team - needs. A GM with a vision of what constitutes a winning team. It's quite evident that type of GM is rare.
Precisely. Drafting well accomplishes nothing if you don't know how to build around.
All I hear on this board is to blow up the team and rebuild from the ground up. As if that's going to lead to success in 3, 4, 5 years. Good luck if it leads to any success. We're in a lottery era. So The Hawks, Kings and Pens prove nothing. If you believe that you can build a team today the way they did well, you believe in fairies and unicorns. Those teams were built at a time when you finished dead last meant you got the first OV. That is no longer the case. Just look at last year's lottery and I've read they want to make this year's lottery even more unpredictable.
The only people who seem to put years on a rebuild are the ones arguing against it. Maybe I missed some posts, but I for one have suggested rebuilding for a while and I don't care if it takes us 3-4-5-6 years. or whatever. I don't care if we get the 1st overall. That wasn't even a guarantee back then.
What I mean by rebuild is you stock up on picks and prospects, and yes, if we do that for a few years, we will draft some skilled talent (unless we completely f*** up, which is an entire other matter).
Take the Leafs, they tanked for a couple of years and right now they have an ok team that is far, very far from being a contender. Should they blow it up again and rebuild or should they look at what they're missing and go get the missing pieces?
The Leafs have a great foundation to build on, we don't. Our three best guys are Price-Weber-Patches. Both those guys are over thirty, one of which is injury prone, and both seem passed their prime.
Patches, hopefully he gets traded next year as we should have no interest in how much he'll be asking for on his next contract.
After that we have Drouin, who's had a terrible season. Galch who is unpredictable. Neither of those guys are premiere players.
Now compare the leafs with the Habs. The Leafs have Matthews, Marner and Nylander in their first tier. In the second tier you got Rielly, JVR, Kadri and maybe you can throw in Andersen. After that I have trouble coming up with talented players. Let's look at the Habs. In the first tier we have Price, Weber, Patches. In the second tier Drouin, Galchenyuk and Gallagher. I'd give the edge to the Leafs but we're not that far from them. And we have Hudon, Scherback Juulsen, Mete, Danault moving into their proper roles.
We are not that far from the Leafs?...We are in a completely different boat. We do not have any young players comparable to Matthews and co.
Our first tier are older, and Patches should be on his way out. That is not who you want to build your team around. As of today, you shouldn't want to do that, let alone in 2-3 years+. We need great skilled youngsters to build around. We don't have any.
If you think the Habs should blow up this team and start a rebuild then the same applies to the Leafs. The Habs are closer to being contenders than they are to being a rebuild team. The problem lies in the GM seat. The Idiot either needs to find a vision for the team and pursue that vision or step aside.
That is some kind of weird logic you're desperately trying to reach. Habs and Leafs have nothing in common.
Habs are nowhere near contention, what in the hell....?
Habs definitely need a new GM, we agree there, no matter the direction.
Last year the Bolts finished out of the playoffs for the second time in 5 years. Should Yzerman have blown up the team and gone for a rebuild? Or should he have taken stock of what he had and what was missing? I think he answered that for you and MB should do the same thing. The problem I fear is he's incapable of the correct assessment.
And the Lightning have a very different roster. People weren't suggesting to blow it all up 2 years ago because there was still hope and potential. We could still ride out Plek and Markov, we still had a young #1 D to build around. Galchenyuk was in his 4th season, not 6th. Pacioretty was still 3 years removed from an extension, and Price 2 years away.
Things were different. But today....Jesus...pathetic doesn't even begin to describe this sad excuse of a roster assembled.
Our roster is not one you want to waste time investing into for the next 2-3-4 years only to realize how it is terribly flawed.
Trade Weber for young skilled top tier prospects. Do the same with Patches. If you can, do it with Price too. Suck for another year or two, grab more talent from the draft. We could be in a great position with a bright future in just a couple of years.
But again, no matter what direction we go in, we need a different GM.