Essentially - what I think a lot of folks in this thread aren't understanding is that in order to be a contender, you need elite talent. The best probable way of gaining that elite talent is drafting high. Top 10. Top 5. Top 3. Until you attain that elite talent at each position - Center, Dman, Goalie - you're really not ready to compete.
Who says that tanking is easy? It's not. It needs to be done methodically. You might not be competitive or strike it rich for 4-5 years, maybe 7-8.
What I can almost guarantee you is that other than dumb luck in the later parts of the draft, you cannot compete as an organization or come close to even touching the Stanley Cup if you don't tank.
Penguins - Crosby, Malkin, Letang - everyone else has been replaced and they've been competitive for 15 years.
Bruins - Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, Rask are all elite. It was pure luck that the Bruins turned out with this bag of riches along with Krejci.
Leafs - Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, Reilly. Need I go further on? Anyone who criticizes the Leafs is being sour. Look at the Flames situation. I'd say they're much closer to competing for a Cup.
Tampa - Stamkos/Hedman always kept them in the conversation of competing. Kucherov, Point was luck that went their way and pushed them over the top.
Florida - Barkov/Huberdeau/Ekblad.
Washington - Ovechkin, Backstrom, Carlson, Kuznetsov. All 1st rounders which turned elite.
Colorado - Mackinnon, Landeskog, Rantanen, Makar.
Edmonton - McDavid, Draisaitl. Just these 2 players have pulled the Oilers from the abyss and practically give them a 2 goal advantage each game.
Anyone watch the Vegas game last night? It was Stone and Pacioretty in on 3 of the goals.
Vegas - Built primarily through trades. Even they realized they fluked it in their first year as an organization and went out/traded for elite talent from other teams.
Canes - Aho, Svechnikov, Hamilton
It would be very unlikely that this year's cup winner is not coming from this list. And there are teams on this list which truly compete year after year for the Stanley Cup and that's because they have the elite talent.
Ever wondered to yourself why the Flames never seem to have enough depth? I have. Until I slowly came to the realization that a team needs elite talent at the top of the roster in order to elevate the depth players to play at a level beyond their normal capabilities.
That's how a player like Barkov can take players like Verhaeghe and others and elevate them. That's how Huberdeau can elevate Bennett and Duclair. That's how Crosby can elevate whoever you put on his line. Same with Malkin. Same with Mackinnon. Same with (insert name of elite player). ROR played some of the best hockey in his life and the Blues won the Cup. Where are they now? Are they annually competing? Likely not...because ROR played above his weight class for a limited amount of time. Now the Blues are stuck chasing the dream for another Cup. Flames punched above their weight in 2014-15 and these are the results now.
tl;dr - Comes down to best vs best. Bettor's odds are the team with the best players at the top of the roster wins. You get them at the top of the draft. Until you have them, you should keep rebuilding. Nothing good comes without sacrifice.
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