A team that was more competitive before and after their moves was more competitive than one that wasn't competitive before and after their moves. Flyers have an easier time bringing in free agents at the player, coach, and management level than the Sharks while also having more organizational depth. That's why they finished just outside the playoff picture both seasons and the Sharks didn't.
A real simple question for you. Tell me what you think tanking is and tell me what you think rebuilding is and point to what and why. I don't think trading a veteran or an expiring contract is on its own a tank move. It depends on the context behind it. They weren't trading players that were helping them win because they weren't winning already with them. I'm obfuscating nothing. I'm trying to get you to legitimately define what tanking and rebuilding is and support that with something because the Flyers and Sharks did very similar things with certain players yet one is tanking and one isn't. And your response to that was to try and point to things that weren't what you originally stated and say that's why it's tanking without a clear definition.
The Flyers finished the 2023 season with 31 wins and 75 points, they were not competitive last year
They could have tanked the season and they had just as much incentive as San Jose did, but they pushed to be competitive this season in a way the Sharks did not
Tanking is losing games on purpose to improve draft position
Rebuilding is changing an organization from a non-competitive state to a competitive one
Rebuilds can be done with or without tanking, though tanking is common and effective in many rebuilds
No player or coach has an incentive to lose so tanking is a management decision and can be achieved through many means, the Blackhawks last year intentionally traded for a bad goaltender to sabotage their season, the Sharks this year employed 9 bottom pair defensemen and 1 healthy top-6 center (who they traded at the deadline) to make sure they had no realistic chance to win most of their games
They are not the same thing, but a tank is often a part of a rebuild, the Sharks tanked this year in an effort to rebuild going forward
This also is not a value judgment, there is nothing wrong with tanking, most of the currently successful franchises tanked at some point to aquire talent, but the Sharks are definitely doing it right now in hopes of enhancing their rebuild moving forward