When Yzerman arrived back in Detroit, the Red Wings had Dylan Larkin and pretty much nothing else. He was able to trade Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi who are nice players but nothing special.
They now have one of the top prospect pools in the NHL, a #1 dman in Seider, a 1st line forward in Ray, and will be adding pieces every single season going forward. Edvinssson, Cossa, Sandin-Pelikka, Danielson, Kasper, Brandsegg-Nygaard could all be in the lineup as soon as 2025-26.
Yzerman is giving short term deals to legit NHL'ers to bide time until the prospects are ready.