Worst (Best?) Act of Tanking of 2014-15?

[Calgary4LIfe]

Oilers. Why? Getting rid of Perron for a late first who probably won't be as good as Perron.

Arizona, Buffalo and Leafs are all teams that made moves looking towards the future. You might argue that trading away Enroth at the deadline was a tank move by the Sabres, but Enroth is not an answer moving forward so it would make sense unloading him. I still think they were all asset management type of moves, more than 'tanking', though I completely understand how they can be viewed as tanking as the cuts did run pretty deep. Rebuilding teams generally make these types of 'smart asset' moves that hurt now, but will give them a chance to be better in the future.

However, Perron? I still don't understand how trading away someone who checks off so many boxes for them and who is definitely still young enough gets sold for futures. He is a fairly sound 2-way forward (something lacking on the Oilers), is gritty (again, lacking in the Oilers), scores and apparently brought some leadership (again, lacking) to team. I doubt the Oilers would be able to draft that well with a late first. Don't get me wrong - Perron isn't some great asset that teams should never trade away, but that move still makes zero sense other than "Ok, we suck this year again, so let's try and suck more."

After so many years of rebuilding and rebuilding, and drafting 1st overalls, the Oilers SHOULD have been making moves this season to load up a bit and balance out their lines better. Perron wasn't the answer there, but he was (imo) a part of the solution. Oh, and Petry too. I am not a fan of Petry, but he was one of their better defencemen - maybe their best defencemen - on a defensively inept squad.

Oilers is the best answer I can think of.

[SportsJunky]

Perron got himself traded. You can't keep him around after his comments imo. That's the one move that I don't consider a tank by the Oilers.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

Perron got himself traded. You can't keep him around after his comments imo. That's the one move that I don't consider a tank by the Oilers.

Its even better IMO. One of their better players basically said that everyone from management down to the equipment guy are the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked and he wanted to get the hell out of there.

And management figured "he knows too much, we have to get rid of him."

[Cuz]

Prior to this season, would anyone have guessed that Dubynk would be a better goalie than Smith?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Cuz

Prior to this season, would anyone have guessed that Dubynk would be a better goalie than Smith?

Dubnyk occasionally showed flashes of ability, but its impossible to draw any conclusions from the Oilers, they are literally that bad.

Remember the 'Scrivezina' talk and now he cant stop a beach ball. The Oilers suck.

[DoubleF]

I was and still am most impressed by Arizona. How they sold huge chunks of their roster at full price and perhaps even above what was considered market, so not a fire sale. Best?

Buffalo made a lot of moves, but they didn't really impress me... Worst?

Oilers... no comment.

[mile]

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/nhl/...=mailsignoutmd

Thursday's contest against the Arizona Coyotes barely felt like a home game for the Buffalo Sabres.

Sabres fans were actively cheering against their last-place team in a meeting against the franchise in second-last. They booed when Buffalo earned a point by going to overtime and cheered when the Coyotes scored the winning goal - much to the chagrin of defenseman Mike Weber.

"It's tough to get momentum when your fans are rooting against you," Weber told reporters after the game. "That's the unfortunate part. I've never seen that before."

"This is extremely frustrating for us. We don't want to be (in last place). We understand where we are. We understand what this team is doing, what the organization is doing, the place we've put ourselves in. I've never been a part of something like that where the away team comes into a home building and they're cheering for them."

"I respect our fans. I love our fans. I show up to work every day to do whatever I can for them and to play hard for them and my teammates."

"This is two years in a row now. Physically, mentally, this stinks. To compound things, you have your home fans cheering against you. ... This is a whole new low right now."

[locsofblu]

Both the Sabres and Coyotes are disgraceful organizations imo.

[Gaudfather]

Brian Costello just posted this article at THN. You have the super tankers (EDM, BUF, AZ) and then the light tankers.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/ta...0piJtw.twitter

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by locsofblu

Both the Sabres and Coyotes are disgraceful organizations imo.

I was considering that... but the Coyotes tank actually feels like a retool (temporary crap product) than rebuild (long term crap product) even afterwards, they can put up respectable games. It doesn't feel like it's designed to fail.

Buffalo's tank is beyond obvious and disgraceful because it seems like they have no intention of putting up any semblance of a reasonable and respectable game at all. It's so obvious it's designed to fail it seems like it's a failure when it's failing to fail.

[locsofblu]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I was considering that... but the Coyotes tank actually feels like a retool (temporary crap product) than rebuild (long term crap product) even afterwards, they can put up respectable games. It doesn't feel like it's designed to fail.

Buffalo's tank is beyond obvious and disgraceful because it seems like they have no intention of putting up any semblance of a reasonable and respectable game at all. It's so obvious it's designed to fail it seems like it's a failure when it's failing to fail.

I guess there's a a case to be made for Phoenix, but ya Buffalo I lost a lot of respect for.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by AC

Buffalo fans cheered throughout the game for the Coyotes, and Mike Weber gave a pretty emotional interview afterwards:
https://vine.co/v/O3j2HgABwtP

Compare that to the experience that the young Flames have had this year.