Decent Article from Today's Slap Shot about Red Wings and the Streak.

[PuckDynasty]

This is the first real rebuild from Toronto though? Everything else has been abridged sucking seasons followed by scrambling and throwing pieces together to make something fit. Throwing uncooked spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. Just because a team is bad doesn't mean they are rebuilding. There is a clear difference.

The Islanders haven't won a cup yet, but this is year three coming out of the rebuild and their team is pretty darn good now.

Edmonton and Columbus are examples of rebuilds being done poorly. No shrewd trades, no late round drafting, no development of prospects outside of the first round.(Though Columbus has been getting better at these things.)

Vancouver had a great rebuild and went to the finals in 2011 where, if they weren't so injured, would have won the cup. That team is now in decay, and they have the worst GM in the league who doesn't know what direction he wants to take the team.

Buffalo had a great rebuild, won a President's trophy, and is now in year 3 of their new rebuild.

Colorado has a bad GM and a bad coach?

Carolina won a cup in their last rebuild and then proceeded to middle with a middling GM in Rutherford and were handcuffed by an internal cap.

Minnesota never had a rebuild.

Winnipeg post Atlanta never went through a rebuild, and Atlanta had arguably one of the worst GM's of the last 2 decades in Dudley which caused them to relocate.

San Jose is doing and has been doing what we are doing.

Ottawa is another team saddled by an internal cap that has also not had a rebuild in some time. The last time they went through a rebuild, they were the eastern conference juggernaut for several years.

So I mean, what???????



St. Louis had a great rebuild, even though they choke year after year doesnt deride from that. It's just as hard to build a team from the ground up as it is to take that contender to the next level. That's been what they've been struggling with for a few years now.

So I mean you can make an excuse for any team at any time. Oh, well that team has bad coaching, management, poor choices, bad luck, injuries, blah blah blah. The bottom line is "rebuilds" (whatever that means to you) don't mean anything and as evidenced by the many teams who have not succeeded after supposed rebuilds. I know Red Wings fans think it's just a snap of the fingers and you can get low draft picks for a few years and voila, you're elite, just like that.

St. Louis is better off never having won a Cup, having a great rebuild and still losing in the first round? So continuing to lose doesn't take away from that? Whaaaat? I think I'll take 4 Cups, 2 finals appearances, multiple Conference finals over the past 20 years. Islanders are awesome because they've made the playoffs twice in the last 10 years or so? How'd that Rick DiPeitro #1 pick go for them? San Jose isn't doing what we're doing, because they never WON anything. Neither did Vancouver. Or Ottawa, the juggernaut. Or Buffalo. So all these teams who are rebuilding again, never won anything in the first place.

 

[Retire91]

No guarantees it ends, ever. Ask Toronto fans. How many rebuilds have they gone through now? They're going on 50 years without a Cup. Many other teams you can add to that list who are "rebuilding" and have been for years without ever coming close to being an elite team. Be careful what you wish for.

That's because of the front office. The red-wings no how to build a team, they just prioritize the playoffs over building a competitor. If the wings put their nose to the grind stone and did a legit rebuild it would be reasonable to expect a lot better results than Toronto or Edmonton. Look at how much the front office has changed on those two teams over the last 10 years.

So I mean you can make an excuse for any team at any time. Oh, well that team has bad coaching, management, poor choices, bad luck, injuries, blah blah blah. The bottom line is "rebuilds" (whatever that means to you) don't mean anything and as evidenced by the many teams who have not succeeded after supposed rebuilds. I know Red Wings fans think it's just a snap of the fingers and you can get low draft picks for a few years and voila, you're elite, just like that.

St. Louis is better off never having won a Cup, having a great rebuild and still losing in the first round? So continuing to lose doesn't take away from that? Whaaaat? I think I'll take 4 Cups, 2 finals appearances, multiple Conference finals over the past 20 years. Islanders are awesome because they've made the playoffs twice in the last 10 years or so? How'd that Rick DiPeitro #1 pick go for them? San Jose isn't doing what we're doing, because they never WON anything. Neither did Vancouver. Or Ottawa, the juggernaut. Or Buffalo. So all these teams who are rebuilding again, never won anything in the first place.

So we are going to sit here and pretend that Chicago, LA, Pittsburgh didn't happen through the draft? Lets not forget that 2 of those cups were prior to the cap era.

Dipietro? For real the same GM that drafted him is the same one that traded Luongo away to hang on to DiPeitro. Again its organizational. What the wings commit to do they will achieve. They want to make the playoffs they will keep it going but the way the league is set up right now you are going to deteriorate unless you hit home runs in the draft and trade shrewdly. We can count on the red wings to hit home runs in the draft but I have 0 faith that Holland will make the trades needed to make the team a contender, and also his contracts leave a lot to be desired.

 

[FlashyG]

That's because of the front office. The red-wings no how to build a team, they just prioritize the playoffs over building a competitor. If the wings put their nose to the grind stone and did a legit rebuild it would be reasonable to expect a lot better results than Toronto or Edmonton. Look at how much the front office has changed on those two teams over the last 10 years.



So we are going to sit here and pretend that Chicago, LA, Pittsburgh didn't happen through the draft? Lets not forget that 2 of those cups were prior to the cap era.

Dipietro? For real the same GM that drafted him is the same one that traded Luongo away to hang on to DiPeitro. Again its organizational. What the wings commit to do they will achieve. They want to make the playoffs they will keep it going but the way the league is set up right now you are going to deteriorate unless you hit home runs in the draft and trade shrewdly. We can count on the red wings to hit home runs in the draft but I have 0 faith that Holland will make the trades needed to make the team a contender, and also his contracts leave a lot to be desired.

Doing what Chicago and LA have done through the draft isn't something most of us have the patience for.

Chicago was awful for 11 years before they resurged, Los Angeles won 1 playoff series in 15 years (against us ) and only played in 5 before turning things around.

Only the Pens turned around somewhat quickly and even they finished last or next to it for 4 years in a row to right the ship.

If the streak ends it won't be the end of the world, but its not going to change anything, the team is still way too good and too young to fully rebuild and it's not good enough to compete with the best as is. We'll still be entering the draft with a mid round pick looking to hit another homerun or continuing to be a bubble team looking to catch fire at the right time.

 

[PullHard]

Narrowly making or missing the playoffs won't change anything

There are benefits to both outcomes, but I think most fans would prefer them narrowly make it rather than miss

Narrowly missing probably doesn't change the front office's mindset, especially with the current wave of youth looking fairly promising

Also have to consider how ownership and management feel about heading into a new building with a decidedly non playoff roster, it seems unlikely they want to do that

I imagine things will probably be similar to this season for the next stretch of time, playoff bubble type team. The current group of youth will either be good enough or not and management will have to act based on that