Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
No, we haven't been rebuilding. To rebuild, you need to be drafting higher than most other teams. Our best draft pick has been 9th.
San Jose, Chicago, Anaheim, Columbus, Montreal, Utah, Ottawa, Seattle, Islanders, Philadelphia and Boston have drafted higher than us at least once in the last two seasons, some of them twice.
That's 11 teams we have probably LOST some ground on in terms of top end talent these last two seasons. Third of the league.
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I think this is actually a good point of discussion and something a lot of us argue about. What exactly constitutes a team being in a rebuild?
We tried to re sign some vets like Lindholm and Hanifin. But it didn't end up working out, so we traded them for futures. On one hand you wouldn't be trying to sign these players if you are rebuilding, but at the same time they did end up trading them for futures.
Then you look at the Markstrom trade and that would lead you to believe maybe we are rebuilding as we got a pick and younger player for him. But then also at the same time they didnt trade Rasmus or Kadri when they could have last trade deadline, because they wanted to try to compete for the playoffs. Why would a rebuilding team not take advantage of great offers for vets?
Then you look at the top draft picks, #16 in 2023, #9 in 2024, #18 in 2025. Pretty much league average and losing ground on about half the teams in the league with top end pick potential, which is an important part of rebuilding. We haven't been trading picks to go all in, but we haven't been getting any really high draft picks either.
I can't really tell exactly what we are doing. A rebuilding team would definitely be shopping Kadri and Coleman while they have value, but it has been reported we are not doing that. But we also aren't a buyer either and going all in to compete.
I feel like the best way to describe it is somewhere between a rebuild and retool. But I wouldn't call it a full rebuild with the current direction, unless we actively trade vets who have term left for future assets. It really feels like we are kind of rebuilding, kind of retooling, and kind of hoping to be competitive (without being a buyer) all at once.
I just hope they trade Kadri, Andersson and Coleman, draft top 5 and we can finally confirm it is a rebuild.