My point is, though, that if a team's best player is an average #1D, it's hard to envision that team being more than solidly in the middle of the pack. Contenders usually have one or many elite players that surpass that level. Barkov, Eichel, Makar, McKinnon, Hedman, Kucherov, etc. You get what I mean.
Kind of a "burn that bridge when you get there" problem. You mention guys like Hedman and Kucherov who when they were 21-23 didn't really trend all that much higher than Seider/Edvinsson/Raymond. It's silly to expect anyone to become Cale Makar, but he had his NHL rookie season when he was 21 - Sandin Pellikka has been making history anywhere he's been and just turned 20.
Not sure what you'd expect a GM to do in this position except have some patience and faith in the process.
Yes, some defensemen turn out to be late bloomers, but most have hit their prime by the time they turn 24, or at least they are close to it.
Uh, that's blatantly wrong.
Even if it wasn't, Seider's deployment and lack of help are major hindrances to his ability to shine more. We've already got tangible evidence of what Seider looks like with a competent partner and it was elite.
That said, I agree with the fundamental notion. The Wings did basically fail at the rebuild because they neglected the golden rule of the rebuild - you don't rebuild for a set number of years, you rebuild until you have your elite core in place. They bailed on it because they wanted to sell tickets.
But.. that's what they're doing? They've made essentially zero aggressive moves to fast-track things. They're all-in on building through the draft until their core is in place.
Is their lack of elite talent due to bad luck in the lottery, bad timing of their rebuild giving them high picks in weak crops, or simply lack of patience in their approach? To me, patience is the most obvious culprit. They needed to keep accumulating assets.
Again, they're doing that. They've been doing that. Their prospect pool is very good. Even if you personally don't see a guaranteed star in it, there's lots of potential. There's lots of assets.
Why why Shanny able to do in 2 or 3 years what Yzerman hasn't been able to do in almost 6?
You want to talk about starting with NOTHING?
When Shanny got here there was no Nylander, he hadn't been drafted yet.
There was no Marner
There was no Matthews
There MIGHT have been a Rielly, I don't remember exactly when he broke in I know he was drafted.
But even if there was a Rielly he was FAR from developed.
There sure as hell was no Dylan Larkin to build around like Yzerman had.
Hell there wasn't even a Hyman, Johnsson or Kapanen yet.
There was NOTHING.
There is a pretty compelling argument to be made (one that I even rang the alarm bells for at the time) that Toronto fast-tracked out of their rebuild too quickly.
That said the biggest difference is landing a trifecta of Matthews/Marner/Nylander in the draft, that's a combination of luck and timing more than any skill or smartness.
Detroit actually bottomed out harder than Toronto, but there simply wasn't that caliber of talent available. The year they *should* have gotten a #1OA, they dropped in the draft unlike Toronto.
They are currently leading the Atlantic whereas Detroit hasn't shown any progress in 9 years and 6 under Yzerman?
39 points in 2020 to 91 points in 2024 is no progress? Best talent being Larkin/Mantha/Bertuzzi/Hronek vs. Larkin/Raymond/Seider/Edvinsson is no progress?
If you would stop using such insane hyperbole it'd make for a more compelling argument.
How much more of the Yzerplan will their top players tolerate before they want out too? We've seen it happen before.
I'm sure Edvinsson will ask for a trade because the team didn't win the cup in his rookie year.
