The Gloaming
23
Well unfortunately every team that has won the past number of years tanked and received multiple top 3 overall picks. This shouldn't diminish our team or their previous years of success..
I'm proud of the Rangers and their previous year accomplishments.. We lost but at least we had the balls to goo for it.. Most teams who hord their prospects and picks really have nothing to show for it. We're still young and I'm confident we'll retool this thing, recoup picks and or prospects and be right back in the mix.
Those teams who "hoard" their picks now have prospects with a legitimate chance of becoming first line forwards or first pairing defensemen. Young kids who will step in and provide immense value to their teams while on their ELCs or bridge RFA deals. That's pretty important - the salary cap makes it so a 20 year old scoring 50 points is immensely more valuable than a 29 year old doing the same thing. We are in the exact same position as them now, with a much grimmer outlook for the future. That's nothing to be proud of. A stupid trade like Saarela and two seconds for Eric Staal is not something a franchise should be proud of doing because they "went for it." Who cares? This team wasn't an Eric Staal away from winning the Cup at any point during this season. I'm not proud of a team losing in five games and losing a solid prospect and two picks on top of that.