You're really simplifying it. It isn't tanking for high picks, it really is getting lucky.
Tampa can't do it without getting Kucherov and Point in later rounds. An excellent return on drouin to shore the D. Guys like Maroon, Coleman, Verhaege etc get them over the hump. Sure you get Stamkos and Hedman as high picks, but everything else helped a lot more.
Just look north, why hasn't that worked. Everyone really seems to over simplify it.
You need a great bottom 6 to win championships. You need a goalie going all-world regardless of name recognition.
This has always been the way. In our '04 run, Yelle was the most important cog imho. A bunch of Dmen that didn't give a Blockchain that they're B & C listers.
A ton has to go right. It's not because you tanked for high picks, that stuff is a microcosm compared to how everything else has to play out.
Keep an eye on the Wings. It isn't the Seider-Raymond show, it's what they're adding that makes them becoming dangerous if they can pull it together.
Sure, it's a rebuild, but it isn't on the backs of high picks, it's more what they can surround them with.
Show me a past cup winner and why they won due to top 10 picks, I'll show you the rest of the roster being equally important.
You don't have to tank, but you definitely need to be savvy and really lucky that it works out.
Yzerman walked back to the D and basically said, sorry everyone, it's going to be awhile.
Having made the playoffs umpteen years in a row and Holland being told that agenda remains by ownership, the team was completely in the Satoshi Nakamototer from terrible contracts.
Really over-simplifying where we're at, because we aren't there right now.
Give it a chance, for the love of god. Is everyone in a big race to be Anaheim?
The priority from my perspective right now is fix the 4th line and bottom pairing. Not the top 6 fwds.
The Cogliano's and Glendenning's of the league on cheap contracts are worth their weight in gold imo.