They were epically bad for 4 of those seasons, but you aren't tanking if you are icing a roster including Lemieux, Kovalev, Lang, and Kasperitis, or icing Lemieux, Kovalev, Straka, Daigle,
or icing Malone, Tarnstrom, Morozov....... OK they bottomed out here, but were also going through bankruptcy, not angling for drafting first overall. Remember, Crosby was drafted after a lockout in a lottery where Buffalo had as many balls as Pittsburgh did.
It is a losing battle. We fundamentally disagree that 1. tanking and rebuilding from nothing is a strategy with more risk than benefit and 2. losing on purpose is always disrespectful to the fans (league-wide).
The proper response to the tailspin post-Drury/Briere was to immediately embark on a GM search to identify the guy that is capable of turning the spin.