Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferarri
Just wanted to add one more thought to my original point. A lot of fans on this board and I assume in the community have said they are willing to accept a re-build and are willing to grow through the pains of starting over.
How long does fan patience last though? In the short term a 2-3 year re-build would most likely be palatable as optimism for the future continues to build. Picks and prospects continue to develop and fans have something to look forward to.
However, what happens if it doesn’t go as expected? Maybe after 3 years the picks have shown very little and potentially labelled as busts. Does the fan support continue to resonate? I find a lot of people place a ton of emphasis on first round picks. But for the assets we have, these are probably going to be late round firsts at best. In the Jarome Iginla and Bouwmester trade that amounted to Poirier and Klimchuk. Not much else needs to be said about that.
So if these are the drafting returns we get then the finger starts to point again. Conversations about how the organization is incompetent at picking talent and developing talent get louder. Comparisons to other teams in similar situations begin to occur and the spiral continues.
There is only so much losing that fans are willing to accept. Let’s be honest, being a season ticket holder is a commitment. It’s often cold and snowy, food and drinks are incredibly expensive and the added cost of parking or transportation. Patience will only last for so long and really who wants to go to the games where the home team is always losing. It sucks the enjoyment out, is painful to watch and not fun. Money is tough to come by for many people and paying for an inferior, boring and losing product gets stale really fast especially when there are other entertainment options.
People will say that it’s different, that re-building brings that pain and is worth it in the end. The payoff is greater than the risk. But if you want a real example of how they can backfire then look no further than the Calgary Flames.
In the late 90’s this team was a disaster and was constantly losing. Also no exciting picks to energize anyone. What was the result? Fans staying away from games and a season ticket drive to save the franchise (that nearly didn’t make it). It wasn’t until Ken King and Sutter joined, and an 04 Stanley cup run that really rejuvenated the fan base.
So back to the philosophy of being an owner, are you willing to accept that risk? I get that circumstances are MUCH different with the salary cap era and creating a more equal playing field for small market teams, but the risk of losing turns people away.
I lean towards the re-build approach as a fan and am willing to be patient, but I get why an owner would not. Nobody wants to lose money and I don’t care if your company makes thousands or millions. These owners are no different. Some will argue that billionaires shouldn’t be all they concerned if profits are down for a few seasons, but that’s completely unjustifiable. Nobody goes into a business to lose money.
Also, I’m willing to bet that a very small percentage of owners in this league prioritize a Stanley cup over profit. Sure, there could be a select few that have a burning desire to win at all costs for the prestige, but I’m willing to bet most want revenue. A Stanley cup is icing on the cake, because you guessed it, a longer run generates more cash.
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Gaudreau, Tkachuk, Lindholm, Hanifin, Mangiapane, Andersson, would all bring back solid returns. Gio, Brodie, Backlund, Markstrom, could have all brought back decent returns. The opportunity was there. So when you suck for 3 years and add your own top picks and add in those returns you likely have a pretty decent team in a short period of tike.. This idea that it might not work or will fans be on board never makes sense to me. The product we have and have been getting hasn't been much better majority of the time. Detroit had more wins than us. Montreal has 1 less. Vancouver has 2 less. We're not missing much. I'll take a young team with hope over an old slowly declining team.