Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
Pittsburgh wasn't that dissimilar either. They made the Conference Finals with Jagr in 2001, then the "re-build" started when they traded him to Washington.
They had Crosby in 2005 but they had picked top 5 in each of 2004/2003/2002 as well.
So if you go 2002 as the start of the rebuild (they picked Ryan Whitney 5th overall) then it was 6-7 years until they won the cup with Crosby in 2009.
So generally the best case scenario for a bottomed out rebuild is 5-7 years (Pittsburgh/Chicago) and the more likely is like 9-10 years (Colorado, Tampa Bay).
The one consistent though is you need a guy who is a top 10 center in the NHL to win. And you generally need to draft that guy. And generally you draft them in the top 5. But it's not impossible to get them in other ways, but you just need to have that guy to have any chance at winning a cup.
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One thing worth acknowledging about Pittsburgh during this time is their issues with ownership. They went bankrupt, I believe. So their collection of top 5 picks likely had more to do with their financial situation opposed to a plan to ‘tank’.