Yeah I think Eichel was the tipping point there as well in their rebuild producing a playoff/contending team vs what they have. I mean they are 117-109 over the last 3 years and I do think a better coach could push them into a playoff spot with the roster they have. But they're not contending for a cup either, kind of rebuilt into no mans land which is pretty awful after 12 years out of the playoffs. But sometimes it just takes a good coach and a couple final pieces to push a team like that into the next tier.
Florida made the playoffs twice in 18 years until fairly recently - and they had seemingly rebuilt into a pretty average team until the last few years, they seemed to be picking in the 9-15 range every season for a bit after they did their dive and picked up 3 or 4 top five picks. Not that Buffalo has a Barkov though probably the big difference.
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