You’ve no doubt heard that the Anaheim Ducks are due for a rebuild. After being amongst the top teams for over half a decade, the curtain is being drawn upon their Stanley Cup dreams, at least for the moment.
Rebuilds, or re-tools, to use the modern lexicon, are often fraught with danger and risk. Look towards the Edmonton Oilers who floundered their way through what felt like a decade long rebuild, selecting the #1 overall pick again and again, before finally getting out of their own way long enough to luck into Connor McDavid. While the Oilers are a worst-case scenario that critics of bottoming out may use in the same way that critics of clean energy criticize nuclear power plants, it does highlight that building a team from the very bottom can be an arduous task.