Detroit was pretty good and tied for the the last playoff spot. That was improvement from the previous season. Up to this point Yzerman's team has gotten better each and every season. This year is the first sign of a set back under his leadership.
Still, his body of work in Detroit has been good. Does that make him the best GM? That's not something I have said, nor would I argue for.
On the other hand, what I have said is that within 5 years he:
- Drafted and locked up a 1st pair Dman in Seider
- Drafted and locked up a star/1st line forward in Raymond
- Drafted what is looking like another 1st pair dman in Edvinsson,
- Drafted what is looking like a good middle 6, possibly 2nd line center in Kasper
- Acquired a 30 goal scorer in Debrincat
- Locked up the captain long term
- built a deep and quality prospect pool that should be bringing more help to the team over the next couple of years.
On the flip:
- Walman trade was bad
- Signed a few mediocre FAs in Copp, Holl, Chairot (Granted the team was below the cap floor and had to spend 12M on somebody)
- Took a swing on Vrana that didnt work out
- He's shown extreme patience with his coaching (I'm not sure canning Blashill sooner matter in anyway) and prospect development
UFA acquisition and pro scouting have been a point of weakness but he has made some good UFA acquisitions as well in Ghostisbhere, Sprong Lyon and Talbot.
Overall his good moves outweigh his bad ones both in quantity and overall impact ie. Drafting and locking up Raymond is of much greater impact than signing Copp; drafting and signing Seider is of much greater impact than signing Chairot for 4 years while the team is still in a rebuild phase.
Yzerman has made mistakes and he will make more. With that said, his impact on this organization has still been net positive so he still has at least another year or two of runway in my books. If a couple guys like Danielson and ASP workout, that means he has earned even more runway.