Not a Treliving fan by any means, but Vegas had a leg up for two reasons: 1) It's widely assumed Buffalo was particularly interested in Tuch because hes local and they have issues keeping players. Whether or not they consider Lindholm better, Tuch is the more attractive asset.
2) Because so many GMs misplayed the Vegas expansion draft, they ended up with a wealth of assets where they can afford to overpay. It's going to catch up to them eventually, but it's why they're always in the market.
Having said that, I've said it before and I still believe that eventually Vegas is going to run into problems always chasing after the shiny new toy on the market, because they have to lose guys to get those players, to fit them into the cap. They're clearly in win now mode, but they haven't really gotten better in terms of results, and when they sink, it might be quickly.
As for Treliving, you can point to a myriad of excuses and reasons and what not, but he hasn't been able to get it done, and he seems to be making a lot of the same mistakes. That's not his problem alone; it seems a lot of GMs do this, for a a variety of reasons. It doesn't mean he can't change, but sometimes change is needed, if at least for someone to just try something different.
30 years of franchise failure (mostly) has nothing to do with Treliving so laying that at his door is silly. But the last 7 years is on him, good or bad.
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