He's made one critical error: Pull up from the rebuild too quickly. The other mid-level signings just compound that first mistake.
I think what you're seeing is not specific to Yzerman, but most GMs that don't keep their team at the bottom long enough, and then can't execute the big swing to save themselves from missing talent while at the bottom.
Compare it to Allvin where you could say the best player they lost was Horvat and the best they brought in was maybe Hronek (is he better than Horvat?). It's really difficult acquiring talent at the top.
Business considerations as well. Wings moved into LCA right at the start of their decline. Unless Yzerman sold more players he wasn’t getting back into the bottom 5 again after Raymond selection in 2020. He’s banking on those extra 2nds and 3rds from 2019 onwards.
I expected Verbeek to do a bit more but he’s slow playing for now.
Not sure how much rope he’s given to be bottom 5 still. Full time GM for 2 seasons with a last and 3rd worst finish. He’s got prospects from Murray days in MacTavish and LaCombe. So not a bare cupboard.
That thread in the main board about who is tanking for McKenna. I’d say if you’re a gm for 3 seasons as of now and your team ends up bottom 5 in 2026, you probably are not the GM moving forward. Of the teams that drafted high then went onto win cups like chi, Pitt, TB and such I think only Lombardi in LA was the GM who drafted in the top 3 and was there as GM to win a cup. Tallon drafted Kane and Toews and moved down to advisor. Patrick was replaced by Shero.
So a gm’s window isn’t as long as some fans want it to be.