Tanking is no longer a viable strategy given the lottery.
IMO Bergevin has mostly had the right idea since mid-2018, but he may not be able to compensate for the bad decisions made before then. In particular, having one of the worst goalies in the NHL make 10.5 million/year through 2026 is already crippling. Through that time Weber will be making 7.8 million/year as well.
I was being semi-facetious, and just sucking and tanking for the sake of it obviously isn't ideal. I also get there are busts in the top-10, let alone top-3 or even #1, but the point really I was making is we haven't been tanking but we really are spinning our wheels for the past decade. Sure, we've had moments, especially during Price's dominant years, but I don't think it's unreasonable to say the last 5 years haven't been good.
Sure, we've restocked our cupboards and talent-wise, we're better today than 5 years ago, but I'd argue our top players are less so today than they were before. I get players have ebbs and flows and shit happens, but while critics like to point and laugh at perpetual tankers, we haven't been tanking and yet have been a lottery team 3/5 years, and would had been 4/5 if we weren't gifted a play-in spot.
Anyhow, I don't disagree trying to shoot for the 1st overall pick isn't viable. Shooting for 1st overall unintentionally though, I dunno, but I just find it funny in a not so funny way. As others mentioned though, rebuilding strategically should had been in the books a lot earlier.