I love how teams that picked in the top 5 of the draft a few times in a 5 year stretch always leads to the assumption they planned it. I posted a few months ago on the Florida Panthers so called tank to win a cup.
They drafted Gudbranson and Huberdeau 3rd overall 2 years in a row, but they had 77 and 72 point seasons. No tanking involved.
They go out a sign quite of few players the summer of Huberdeau's draft. Make the playoffs with a .573 Point %.
They don't sell off a ton of players that summer after losing in the playoffs and fall down the standings. Get Barkov.
Tank to get Ekblad. Maybe 1 year of tanking, not 5.
If the examples are Chicago and Pittsburgh from 2 decades ago, you might want to relook as those examples were in a time with very different rules.
Seems like a lot of recent rebuilds have their ups and downs too. Florida and Colorado had terrible seasons mixed in with good seasons during their stockpiling of their current core.
Seems like getting lucky with the lottery or getting a top pick without being a 40/50 point team helps too.
|