All but two of the guys in my list were available this summer.
I actually think Yzerman's general strategy of bringing in veterans to bridge the gap and get more competitive while prospects over-ripen is sound. That only works though if you have good pro scouting and bring in the right veterans. Yzerman has consistently (including and especially this offseason) made poor pro scouting decisions and made moves for worse veterans in FA and in trades when acquiring better ones for similar prices were well within the realm of possibility. Unfortunately for him pro scouting is a massive part of a GM's job and he's missed on basically every single one of those moves except for Kane.
Even if their lottery luck turns around or some of the many late round picks eventually make an NHL impact, his deficiency in this specific aspect of the role is so large that it makes me skeptical he will ever be able to put together a playoff team, let alone a contender in Detroit.
Exactly this. Yzerman had the right idea; if he had done what some fans wanted, and just twiddled his thumbs for a few more years wanting for the draft to land a few more stars in his lap, Detroit would have just rotted as another member of the "Just One More Year" tanking club. It's good that he tried to improve the team, but the execution has been poor.
Part of it is seems to be just poor pro scouting. I mean, Wings fans are mostly right that all these poor signings won't really hurt the team's chances to contend long-term. But there's an opportunity cost to wasting all that cap space, plus the fact these guys can't be flipped for good returns on their way out either. The Wings will be left with the same lack of NHL assets that was their problem in the first place.
The other part of the problem IMO is that Yzerman's management is too safe. A big part of being a good GM is identifying undervalued assets on other teams, or players that are a particularly good fit for your own team, and going out and grabbing them. "Building through the draft" is not enough, and while outbidding teams for mediocre veterans in FA doesn't cost much, it doesn't add much either. A good GM needs to spend assets and take risks to improve the team long-term, and Yzerman hasn't done much of that. There was the trade for Debrincat (which was good), and the Mantha/Vrana swap (a mixed bag, at best), but beyond that, Yzerman hasn't actually done much to add to Detroit's future core aside from just drafting, and unless your drafting is consistently amazing (or just really lucky), that won't be enough to build a contender. If they don't want to waste Seider and Raymond's prime (and possibly Larkin's last good years), the WIngs have to, within 3-4 years, somehow add at least 5 solid top-9 forwards, 3 reliable NHL Dmen and one good starting goalie, and that's assuming Detroit's current good players don't regress too much. Even the most optimistic WIngs fan can't seriously expect that all those guys will come from the Griffins; even the best farm systems in the league aren't nearly that productive.
I guess it's a bit contradictory to criticize Detroit's pro scouting and also criticize Yzerman for not taking risks (you probably don't want a management who struggles with player evaluation to make too many big trades). But something's gotta give for the Yzerplan to work out.
