Here's the rub from my perspective. In no way do I think it should be acceptable for the Red Wings to pick between 8th and 15th after this season. They've picked between 8th and 15th for three consecutive seasons. Not good enough to make the postseason, not good enough to pick high. If they do end up picking between 8th and 15th, then a very real question should be "well then why the heck were they only picking 8th back in 2022 and not making a higher selection?" In no way can you convince me that a team needs to "mid out" for four consecutive seasons as a necessary and proper step of the rebuild.
So that's the issue we run into, on the one hand, people want to praise the Red Wings for raising from the basement of the League to the... not basement. However, that rise has not actually correlated with anything meaningful. They've been stuck in the mud, spinning their wheels while "waiting for the kids" because "it's a long rebuild". It seems some want it both ways. If it's a long, slow rebuild, you may as well have gone all in on bottoming out for more than just a season and really positioned yourself for better picks. Had they picked higher the last few years, with the rest of their prospect pool through excess picks and the like, they'd be in a much better position today.
I don't think in good faith the veteran free agent signings can be justified with "building a culture" or "learning how to compete". Those are junk words used to indicate a fear of tanking because ownership or ego gets in the way. That stuff doesn't take four seasons. Larkin was on one of the worst teams ever back then, is he forever damaged goods because he didn't "learn how to win"? But he himself was extended long-term presumably to win. Either those free agents were supposed to get Detroit into the playoffs and were bad signings, or they were part of a foolish strategy to intentionally nerf the value of the players you can select in Consecutive Non-Playoff seasons. Framing it as though everything was done with the exact intent of what it produced would just make Yzerman's whole "plan" look really stupid. I'd rather a GM make some small mistakes than have a foolish plan to begin with.