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Can we please stop with the notions that we have to poop the bed for years on end to become an instant contender, and that we have to trade players based on age regardless of where your team is in its building arc? It is seriously ridiculous to consider both of those things to be absolutes, when it comes to how to reach contender status. Did you see St.Louis or Boston bottom feeding for years during the last 5 to 7 years to get where they are today? Did they trade away all their veterans on the wrong side of their prime to achieve their current status? How about San Jose? How many seasons did they spend bottom feeding to acquire a contender during the last 5 to 7 seasons? How many veterans did they trade away in that time? There are several different ways to build a contending team, but ultimately a balance of good drafting, good trades to achieve roster balance, good contracts and cap management are the keys to getting there.

I made my point. I would have fired him after 2017. They didnt. They kept him on. What hes done over the last two years tells me that hes moving in the right direction. If I feel things are going well now, I'm not going to short circuit that and replace him because of a move in 2015. GMs grow and mature and learn on the job. So do coaches. So do players. I dont think hes the same guy we hired in 2013 who had never been a GM before. Over his tenure hes made good moves and mistakes. His current trajectory tells me that hes learned from the mistakes. So I'm weighing what is happening now way more than I'm weighing what happened 4 years ago. And what I see is an organization building up their young talent and prospects.

The 25th and 27th teams are closer to the cup than the 14th will EVER be

closer to a cup than "WE WILL EVER BE" EVER? We can never be as close to the cup as the teams who finished 23rd and 24th in the NHL last season? Really??? EVER? I refer to the STOP THE MADNESS post I made earlier, where the hyperbole is getting out of hand... Bergevin is Milbury... Drouin is a third liner... Sergachev is already a #1 Dman... We will never be closer to the cup then two teams who finished no where close to a playoff spot, and have no goaltending. Both have issues with secondary scoring too. Who is the Sabres #2 Centre? Who are the Oilers wingers after Draisaitl? We will never be better than that? My goodness... What the hell happened to everyone this summer? Where is the rational thought?

I’m glad I’m not as pessimistic and sour as you. That would be rough.

It's more than just extra picks. Its solid picks in poehling at 25th. It's a trade for suzuki from pacioretty. 7th rounders like primeau developping. Caufield isnt an extra pick. It's taking kotkaniemi when most wouldnt have. Its brook and romanov and fleury.

A player who has 53, 46, and 53 points in his last three seasons is not a third line player. Michael sergachev has not proven to be a number 1 d. He was on the third pair last season. Bergevin is Trading all the prospects? What? How? We have one of the best prospect pools in the league thanks to prospects and picks we have added in recent years. Let's stop the madness people. There are areas to criticize but when you say that Bergervin is comparable to Milbury or that Drouin is a third liner. You lose any and all credibility and your argument becomes moot.

I disagree. I think the Oilers are very much spinning their wheels despite having the best player in the world. They have no goalie and their wingers are crap. They are also capped out. Poorly developed high draft picks like Nail Yakupov and Jesse Puljujarvi really hurt, and when guys have developed like Taylor Hall, they trade him away for a mediocre defender, or Jordan Eberle and have nothing in return. The Sabres have never gotten a culture of winning despite all their high picks. They overpaid Jeff Skinner who scored 4 goals in his last 28 games. They have a good first line but lack any depth in the forward group. They also have no goaltending.

And if we move them we can be the oilers or the sabres with no leadership for any of the young players.

An over the top negative statement? Of course, look who posted it.

Hahaha. Keep on trying to prove just how bad the habs are, just too funny.

This is the new NHL.

Oh crap, you mean i've been looking at this the wrong way the entire time?!?! It's just like golf and you need the lowest amount of points to be the winning?! I'll see myself out...

Zdeno chara was a top 4 defenceman past the age of 40. Plenty of goalies have been very good past 30, 35... especially one who is elite earlier in his career. Both these players are huge for the leadership of the club and installing a winning culture too. You don't want to be edmonton.

Both those teams are closer to wining a cup then we will ever be if we