Has a team ever really "decided" to do a complete blow up style rebuild? There are a few instances where teams have decided to sell off some parts while they knew they were not going to make the playoffs. Ottawa last year and phily a few years back come to mind.
I see a lot of posts with people saying something along the lines of "AHA I told you! the flames should of traded Iginla and Kipper 2 years ago when their value was the highest!". But I can't think of any team that has basically said "ok our core is now 32 years old time to blow it up and start from scratch."
All of the teams that have been forced to "blow it up" basically had to be forced into it. Namely the oilers in 2009, 2000ish penguins, 2005 blackhawks. None of these teams had the intention of taking the scorched earth approach they basically ended up being managed into the ground and being forced to draft high.
People like to criticize the flames for not blowing it up sooner, but there are not really any cases of teams willingly going into the basement for draft picks.
|