Quote:
Originally Posted by LChoy
My 2 cents but in a Canadian market, the goal from an ownership perspective is to be a consistent playoff team because that is where the profit comes from. Ultimately winning the cup is the goal to strive for but it's not a realistic one because there are too many variables and no guarantees which team will win a cup each year. However having a team that can be competitive in the playoffs every year and nurturing fans hope that this is the year and that anything can happen in the playoffs is what drives the fans into the buildings and on TV, selling of merchandise, and attracting players.
The Oilers' decade of darkness was an absolute disaster that no NHL executive will ever want to repeat. Tanking is easy until a team has to get out of being a have not. Most of the good teams that find themselves out of the playoffs do their best to quickly get back into it
Therefore as much as fans wants to sell off everything of value and rebuild for a number of years, the market and money making drive pretty much restricts any kind of long term rebuild, especially with a new arena on the horizon
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The team will earn more playoff revenue if it takes a longer term approach to building a team and competing for the Stanley Cup rather than trying to fall backwards into the playoffs every year and hope for a fluke run.
The period before a new building is literally the best time to rebuild because I'm less likely to want to pay 50% more in ticket prices to see the same team finish 18th again in the inaugural season.