Quote:
Originally Posted by thefoss1957
"Tanking" is NEVER worth it. Look at any of they E=NG threads to see what success "tanking" has wrought.
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The path that the Oilers and Sabres took was a huge gamble to try to mimic the success of the Pens when they had Mario and Jagr and then followed up by them getting Fleury, Malkin, Crosby, and Staal. That tanking was worth 5 Cups altogether and also many successful years even without Cup wins without those players. Let's say if the Oilers picked Seguin instead of Hall and then 2 years later selected Filip Forsberg instead of Yakopov, then Bo Horvat instead of Nurse, and finally Tkachuk instead of Puljujarvi - that team would've looked a heck of a lot different. It's all about luck and how deep that draft pool is as well. The Oilers, Sabres, Pens, and other teams took full advantage of the NHL lottery draft process before the McJesus lottery draft changed the following year. So, doing a tank doesn't guarantee you the first overall pick or a locked position within the top six or so. Flames had their chance but they blew it. It's too bad since a full rebuild takes a decade or more before things start to turn around and it doesn't even guarantee a championship if you don't have at least 2 generational franchise players in your lineup, it seems.
If the Oilers finally win a Cup with McJesus and Draisaitl, it'll all be worth it. However, if they don't and basically lose both of those players because they've run out of time, it'll all be for nothing. However, the ownership would've made a heck of a lot of money based on those two players alone just because they had the balls to tank the way they did and lived to tell show them off. It's all a gamble and you can win big or go home sulking for years or you can also get lucky and get the right people through incredible trades like what the Flames did in the mid to late 80's.