It's positivity trolling. The same people would belittle people for complaining about roster decisions that were bad the moment the ink dried. "You seriously think trading a 2nd round pick is going ruin the franchise?!" Well, no. But trading a 2nd round pick for Derek Stepan is indicative of the horrible process that has us capped out with a barren farm despite missing the playoffs in 6 straight seasons.
A point that Hale and I (and others of course) made several times for years. It's not the ONE pick that hurts, it's the cumulation of bad moves...
Does giving up a 4th round pick for Josh Brown hurts? No, but we sold him for a 5th minus a 7th after realizing that he was not very good... So the cost in the end is 4th + 7th for a 5th
Another completely random example? Mike Hoffman, not the guy with the greatest value despite his offensive production but we actually paid a 5th to move him and received a 6th... We downgraded a pick and got a guy in a steep decline (Boedker) for a guy that had three 55+ pts seasons in a row (NHL scoring was lower than today). The Sharks humiliated us the same day by flipping him for much more.
Stepan and his 6.5 AAV... and to think that Montreal got a 1st round pick to take on Sean Monahan or that the Yotes got a 2nd + 7th to take on Gostisbehere, it's upsetting. Seriously, it's probably Dorion not understanding the market and thought that Stepan had value because of his lower salary vs cap... or got completely manipulated into thinking he should pay for that... it's insane
And I never see people talk about the 2nd + 3rd + 4th + 7th that we spent to get rid of Zaitsev (1.25 years) and Murray (75% of 2 years) contracts... to repair... some other Dorion blunders
Then you could even add stupidly drafting Tyler Boucher 10th OA after TANKING in 2020-21 (if you look at the roster decisions and the way 42 M$ were spent, what else could it be lol?)
We could go on all day seriously. If you add everything up, that is exactly why our pool is already drying up despite not even making the playoffs once. It's actually a miracle that we have a team with potential despite all the mismanagement but I think it has more to do with WHAT WE STARTED the rebuild with and the drafting 2017-2020 with Trent Mann at the head of scouting. And before people say Dorion should be credited for Mann, he was actually hired by Bryan Murray in 2011. So credit Dorion for not firing him earlier I guess.
If what has happened the last 7 years is NOT enough for some people to realize that Pierre Dorion is just NOT competent at this job, then NOTHING will. Denial is real.
Yes, it's a challenge no doubt. I don't know how you turn topical topics like this one (potentially losing a draft pick or whatever) into a positive thing for those that are more delicate. Maybe the Positivity thread would help them? Then they could say things like "we don't need those crappy draft picks anyhow", or "our team is stacked" or whatever gives them shelter in a more comfortable environment.
Coping mechanisms
