To expand on my previous point:
No matter what happens...until the plan that's been set in motion actually works (I.e. we're seeing a consistent degree of playoff success and are a threat to win the cup every year)... none of this matters.
Buffalo has probably done the most complete and through tear downs. Ironically, it was our inability to land a "big fish" in the UFA market (Richards, Doan, Suter/Parise) that allowed us to burn the team to the ground so quickly. Look at the task Toronto has ahead of them with moving Kessel, Phaneuf, Bozak, and Lupul. On top of that, the rules are changing so they they will never guarantee themselves better than 4th and their odds will be diluted with expansion teams coming in.
The "hate" directed at us is usually from people who see the "lose for mcdavid" stuff and just assume our entire front office was cutting sticks, dulling blades, and telling the team to lose.
The tank talk was almost exclusively from the fanbase. Everything that Murray has done has been in the idea that is that, in his words "Our time is later" and maximized his pending UFAs. In the context of a full and complete rebuild, all of the moves are defendable and logical. Nothing was done to intentionally make the team hit 30th. It simply was a consequence of the rebuild, not the goal of it.
No matter what happens...until the plan that's been set in motion actually works (I.e. we're seeing a consistent degree of playoff success and are a threat to win the cup every year)... none of this matters.
Buffalo has probably done the most complete and through tear downs. Ironically, it was our inability to land a "big fish" in the UFA market (Richards, Doan, Suter/Parise) that allowed us to burn the team to the ground so quickly. Look at the task Toronto has ahead of them with moving Kessel, Phaneuf, Bozak, and Lupul. On top of that, the rules are changing so they they will never guarantee themselves better than 4th and their odds will be diluted with expansion teams coming in.
The "hate" directed at us is usually from people who see the "lose for mcdavid" stuff and just assume our entire front office was cutting sticks, dulling blades, and telling the team to lose.
The tank talk was almost exclusively from the fanbase. Everything that Murray has done has been in the idea that is that, in his words "Our time is later" and maximized his pending UFAs. In the context of a full and complete rebuild, all of the moves are defendable and logical. Nothing was done to intentionally make the team hit 30th. It simply was a consequence of the rebuild, not the goal of it.
1point21Gigawatts
hell's a gigawatt?
The only thing i worry about is how cocky a very vocal minority of our fanbase may sound. Something similar happened back when TPegs bought the team. A lot of sabres fans were on the main thread talking about winning the cup in three years and how great we are gonna be and we have an owner that's better than every owner. Where did that get us? Now we have a great draft pick and that's awesome and we all have a right to be excited and a little indignant when people mock, jeer, condescend us for our season and everything that went into getting said pick. But it's scary when some people get ahead of themselves...or brow beat other fans with why we think we are amazing. Just let it be. Let people hate and let people say ******** things or vocalize their anti-sabres management agenda...whatever it may be. As a few others have said (tehdoak just before me, for example) none of this matters until we start actually having success and becoming consistently competitive.
RiotAct
Panickin' 4 Hanifin
Not just on the main boards; on here as well
Folks who were skeptical of the whole "Hockey Heaven" bit (like me) were chewed out pretty good.
