Who is advocating for a scorched earth rebuild? It certainly isn't what Zito did.
The Wings were neck deep in a scorched earth rebuild at the time Eichel was demanding a trade. They finished with 39 points in 2020.
You're arguing that they should be better faster with more elite talent because they should have gotten Eichel.
That means you're arguing that a year and a half after taking over a completely barren roster and farm it was time to trade a big stack of futures and exit the rebuild.
Not sure what you are arguing here. Ekblad has significantly regressed due to injury and age - without Zito unearthing Forsling there simply isn't a Cup in Florida. This to me is an argument in favor of his management style, and not an example of him getting lucky.
I like Zito's management style and I think he's the best GM in the league.
As miraculous as his turnaround of that team was, he did it with a young 1C in place and they weren't at the start of a scorched earth rebuild with nothing but liabilities on the roster, no farm and no elite talent, which was the position Yzerman started from.
.... Wait are you arguing that Yzerman should have gone Zito style from day 1 in 2019? Have you taken a look at the state of that franchise when he took it over?
Is that the biggest issue? Are the Red Wings primarily being held back by Larkin being slightly less than elite? I don't think so. Fundamentally, the Panthers roster without Barkov is miles better than the Red Wings roster without Larkin.
Are you literally comparing them side by side as if their starting positions were comparable? I find this hard to believe. And even if they were, which they aren't, Zito's transformation of the panthers is easily the most impressive GM'ing in the cap era. It would be insane to hold what he did as the expectation for any other team and it seems like you're holding Zito's panthers as the bar for success or failure.
It depends on what you think the problem is. It seems like if they had convincingly made the playoffs this year a lot of people would have been impressed and changed their tune but it wouldn't have changed my opinion at all.
People also think he should have more elite young talent by now which, given that they got screwed by the lottery and there was no elite forward talent picked anywhere near their draft positions, was literally impossible
I think the problem is that there isn't a clear path to winning a cup for them. Franchise C's win cups and they don't have one. Even with all of Zito's brilliance, Florida doesn't win a cup without Barkov. DRW exited the rebuild without one and that was a huge mistake, but this is never the issue that Yzerman haters have.
I doubt even Zito would have done what he did if Barkov wasn't in Florida when he took over and if Yzerman had got Byfield or Stutzle in 2020, which he should have, we might have seen a very different set of moves. Like I think the entire reason he exited the rebuild in 2022 was to improve so Larkin would sign, and my opinion was reinforced when he immediately turned around and traded Hronek after Larkin extended. But if he had one of those two young C's in place he wouldn't have had to fear losing Larkin as much as he did and maybe takes a different course of action.
