WildCard

I like how we can just say 'rebuilt properly' without defining anything about it; we can just assume we have a good GM who's going to hit on mid round draft picks, make good FA and RFA decisions, hit on more later round picks, farm a good AHL team to build winning success and culture, and find the right coach. Being a GM is hard. Being a GM with worse draft picks is harder.

I get you're answering his question about potential scenarios, but at the time everyone on here liked our first round picks over Boston's, everyone on here loved the O'Reilly trade, and everyone on here loved the Samson pick (well, some wanted Drasaitl). It's revisionist history Also, what you're doing still isn't applicable in the draft. What you're saying is 'we should have drafted player X over player Y'. Well, the tank doesn't prohibit you from doing that at all. We could have picked player X, the tank allowed us that choice, we just didn't. Let's not pretend Barzal and Eichel are remotely comparable Because we did that for years, and never got anywhere. The fact remains that the in today's NHL the teams that have won Cups consistently drafted highly in the draft, so we tried to do just that. Rebuilding properly can be done by tanking and simply drafting quality players besides just the top guy you hit on; every team in the league needs to hit on late round draft picks, and every team needs to develop them properly. How those failures are somehow the result of the tank is beyond me Really, you would? You'd settle for drafting 10th every year, being the 8 seed, and getting demolished in the first round every year? Because that's what we were doing. That's like taking a job for $30k a year that you fcking despise because it's just enough to live on

We more than enough opportunities to recover/replenish the roster since. We just used them poorly

Stop me if this is crazy, but maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't be naming any of our players after the Nazis

Sorry man, hope everything gets better.

Even after experiencing what real Buffalo teams are like? Feel like the MLB did us a favor here

Greatest day of the year today

What other moving targets are there? Being successful in the draft? Hiring a good head coach? Not being an idiot in FA? Those are the same moving targets every successful team has to hit

The point of the tank was to get a franchise player, it did exactly that. The point of the franchise player is to help it make it easier to have long term contention. Eichel does exactly that. There are elements to contention. We identified one, went after it, and succeeded in getting it. The fact that we failed at every other single element does not mean that one facet was a failure; we had plenty of opportunities to replenish whatever cupboard people want to claim was bare, we had plenty of opportunities to bring in veteran leaders to not end up like Edmonton, and we had plenty of opportunities to not hire terrible head coaches who were run out of town by two HoF players, one of which is top 5 all time. The point of the tank was to make it easier to contend and to sustain that success for a longer time period. 10 years of a franchise player does just that. It does not, however, hand you the playoffs if you refuse to tend to every single other aspect of running a successful franchise Right. Tanking gives you assets and opportunities. Wasting those assets and opportunities is not a fault of the design, it is a fault of the implementation No, it doesn't. We've been down this road a million times. Drafting is the most important aspect of building long term success. Drafting higher gives you a much higher chance of having a successful draft. Tanking gives you more picks in better positions to succeed. Kings, Hawks, Pens...all had numerous top picks. Everyone is so jealous of the Leafs right now, are we just going to forget the two years they were tanking too?

No. They could be bottom 5 for the next 20 years and I still wouldn't classify the tank as a failure. It did exactly what it was meant to do

Look at TJ Oshie. Your argument is equivalent to predicting Hurricane Katrina every year It is nothing like a roulette table. Each players season is not completely independent of one another. His skills will be relatively the same this season as they were next. The only thing that will change is his luck

Your change in avatar should be a ban-able offense, pi

Light is given by the sun. The sun exists in space. So why is space dark?

Jesus man :lol:

@JeremyWGR My Sabres twitter guy that's never wrong... reached out to tell me the Bills covet Baker. Would make sense on being at 12. Would make sense on waiting to trade up higher if necessary. Would potentially protect assets. Could be killed by the Jets at 3 or Denver at 5. https://twitter.com/JeremyWGR/status/978931334977605632

really crusading here aren't you pal yeah, and?

Anyone watch the Preds on a regular basis? I'm wondering if Housley coaches the same style game they play, but with so much less success because of the roster difference

He'll need to go to Rochester for sure. Just like Asplund

Good, stay there. Either that or trade him already

That's my dream draft right there. Browns/Jets take Darnold/Allen, and somehow we get to pick between Baker and Rosen Some people believe Darnold and Baker could use a season or two to marinate as well. Allen is easily the biggest project though, so I get your point

If we're doing this for 2018 my answer is to be a bottom 5 team again

I mean what's the alternative? 1) Darnold 2) Giants stay - take Chubb 3) Rosen 4) Mayfield Either way the only way I see us being happy is getting to 4 or 2, and I don't think 2 is on the table anymore

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence

Agreed and I hope so

Actually that does ring a bell