Are you alluding to that's when DRWs rebuild "officially" started? Larkin was drafted 15th overall. Then drafts after him were 19th and 20th the following two years.
Weird rebuttal.
Let’s be real — rebuild timelines in the NHL aren’t linear, and comparing Detroit's path directly to Montreal or Columbus is overly simplistic and ignores key context.
First off —
Unlike Montreal or Columbus, the Red Wings were coming off
a 25-year playoff streak that left them with:
- No high-end prospects
- Aging contracts (Abdelkader, Nielsen, Ericsson, etc.)
- A cupboard completely bare due to late draft picks and minimal prospect development under Ken Holland's final years
When Steve Yzerman came in, it wasn’t a matter of “tweaking” — it was a
scorched-earth rebuild starting from near zero.
Meanwhile:
- Montreal lucked into Cole Caufield and Slafkovsky, and made a fluke run to the Cup Final in a COVID-shortened season with Carey Price playing out of his mind.
- Columbus? They’ve got talent, sure — but are they actually ahead of Detroit? They’ve been dead last in the East previous years and recently fired a coach mid '24. They also took big swings in free agency that haven’t fully panned out.
Neither team has done anything Detroit hasn't — and in fact, Detroit has more stability and structure moving forward.
On Yzerman: You want to fire the guy who built Tampa?
Tampa’s Cups in 2020 and 2021 were built
entirely off his drafting and development:
- Kucherov
- Point
- Vasilevskiy
- Cirelli
- Sergachev (traded for Drouin)
- Killorn, Palat, Hedman (held over)
He didn’t luck into a super team — he
built it patiently. Detroit is just now starting to see those same results:
Wrong.
The Lightning made the Conference Final in his first year. After missing for two straight years, they were right back in the playoffs in 2014. There was no 6 year drought under Yzerman (or 10 straight overall).,
Kucherov was drafted in 2011; he was in the NHL in 2013. Point was drafted in 2014 and was in the NHL in 2015. Vasilevskiy was drafted in 2012 and was in the NHL in 2014. They all stepped in and immediately began making meaningful contributions.
Furthermore, Kucherov, Vasilevskiy and Point are superstars. There is literally zero indication that Nate Danielson and his 9 goals in 61 AHL games will reach that level. How about Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and his 5 goals in 42 games this season?
We saw what Carter Mazur and his non-existent upper body look like at the NHL level - it lasted two shifts.
Going into year 7 on the job with no playoffs is unacceptable. There was no such drought with the Lightning. Spare me the "patient" nonsense. Jeff Vinnik, a real NHL owner, would never have allowed it.
The Red Wings must make the playoffs comfortably next season, or Yzerman needs to be fired. Period, end of story. No more coasting on his last name with terrible free agent signings and the excuse of "just wait for the kids" and demanding that the paying customers continue to shell out ridiculous money for a product that they openly admit isn't trying to win yet.
- Seider, Raymond, Edvinsson, Kasper, Danielson, Cossa, Lombardi, Mazur — a pipeline with legitimate depth
- They’re also near the playoff bubble in the hardest division in hockey and doing it with the youngest team in the league outside of rebuilding squads
Again, there's literally zero indication that any of these prospects aside from Sandin-Pellikka (which are nothing but job security for Yzerman to try and excuse his abysmal free-agent signings and the horrible decision to hire and keep Lalonde) will be elite NHL talents.
They're "near" the playoff bubble? That's the standard in Detroit? Let's see if a surgeon can get away with "Well, I
almost saved my patients even if they all ended up dying on the operating table! Just give me 3-4 more years!"
Final thought:
Rebuilds don’t always bear fruit by Year 6 — especially when you
start from absolute zero like Detroit did. But right now:
- They’re competitive
- They’re deep in prospects
- They have cap flexibility
- And they’re being built by one of the most respected GMs in hockey
It’s fair to expect more by now — but saying they have “nothing to show for it” is just lazy. The foundation is there. The next step is coming.
A rebuild does not - I repeat -
DOES NOT take 6 full years just to barely scrap into the playoffs if done correctly.
They're competitive? They're 2-10 in their last 12 games and just got blasted by a combined score of 10-4 in their last two games. They're melting down in the most crucial part of the schedule for the 3rd straight year.
Cap flexibility? They had $14 million to use at the Trade Deadline and acquired the corpse of Craig Smith and decided for some bizarre reason to bring back Mrazek and his 3.50 GAA (he and Talbot are under contract for another year, which means another year of no Cossa.)
How did they use their cap space in the summer (besides the Raymond and Seider contracts, which should not have taken until training camp had already started to work out)? How are those Tarasenko and Gustafsson deals looking? How about the Copp and Compher Ken Holland-esque deals?
Deep in prospects? Again, literally zero indication that any of these prospects (AKA job security) aside from ASP are going to be elite, game-changing talents. Detroit doesn't need more mid-level depth players - that's what they have now.
Fan patience is dwindling with Yzerman, as it should be. He's no longer able to coast on his last name and expect to be granted an endless runway just to make it back to the playoffs. Anyone else would have been fired by now.
Spare me the "but but he had to start with nothing" excuse. Irrelevant. He was the supposedly best GM in hockey, and he's going into year 7 with no playoff appearances (and yes, playoff experience is critical for players like Seider and Raymond, even if it means they get blasted in the first round).
"But Yzerman didn't win the Cup until he was 33! It takes time!" By the time 1997 rolled around, Yzerman had nearly 100 games of playoff experience.
