Quote:
Originally Posted by Caged Great
We just have to be patient. Usually the fastest proper rebuilds take 4-5 years, some more than that. We just finished year 1.
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This. While it's great & refreshing to have people genuinely believe that we have a shot at a wildcard next season, we'd have to face the possibility of having this rebuild be more of a retool. That's not how you build a contender. It's the difference between sneaking into the playoffs to make an unceremonious first round exit in 6 games or being a serious threat to challenge for Stanley.
The rebuild will need patience; Burke has a team in a far better situation contract/cap wise than he did with Toronto and remarkably less pressure from the Calgarian fanbase. It would surprise me to have him go for a quick retool just for the sake of making it a playoff year. He can say playoffs all he want; I just don't expect him to make the GM moves accordingly.
So far:
Year 1: 4th last
My realistic expectations for the future:
Year 2: 6th-7th last
Year 3: Barely miss the playoffs
By year 4 I'd start expecting real results.
Year 4: Make playoffs to surprise a higher seed in 1st round but fail to go to conference final
Year 5 Onwards: SC contender