It's really not, you're just impatient from having been spoiled watching all the winning years and none of the losing years.
- DraftandDestroy

I mean, objectively yes it is. Eight consecutive missed playoffs is tied for sixth most all time.

That's not all on Yzerman, and arguably not even mostly on him. Successful rebuilds require both good decisions and good luck. There's some disagreement about the quality of his decision-making (I tend to fall somewhere in the middle on this; I think he's a decent-to-good but not great GM) but we can all agree his luck has been wretched. Holland left him with almost nothing of value to even flip for futures, much less build on. And clear cut superstar talent was never available at the draft table by the time Yzerman was up. He's been dealt a crap hand, regardless of how you feel about how well he's played it.

The team has improved every year since bottoming out. Whether that continues or stalls out depends a lot on whether enough of the 23-and-under crowd can exceed expectations over the next few years.

This team is not especially skilled or especially young. If we want to actually contend within the next few years, with the current core, Raymond and Seider need to be legit all-stars. At least one of Edvinsson or ASP need to develop into a legit top pair defenser. At least one if not two of Kasper, Danielson, and MBN need to be consistent first line caliber. One of Cossa or Augustine needs to be a top-10 starter. Or otherwise Yzerman will need to go get the talent from outside the system.

It's a tall order. Not impossible. But it's going to require some more good (and difficult) decisions and good luck.

I mean, objectively yes it is. Eight consecutive missed playoffs is tied for sixth most all time.

That's not all on Yzerman, and arguably not even mostly on him. Successful rebuilds require both good decisions and good luck. There's some disagreement about the quality of his decision-making (I tend to fall somewhere in the middle on this; I think he's a decent-to-good but not great GM) but we can all agree his luck has been wretched. Holland left him with almost nothing of value to even flip for futures, much less build on. And clear cut superstar talent was never available at the draft table by the time Yzerman was up. He's been dealt a crap hand, regardless of how you feel about how well he's played it.

The team has improved every year since bottoming out. Whether that continues or stalls out depends a lot on whether enough of the 23-and-under crowd can exceed expectations over the next few years.

This team is not especially skilled or especially young. If we want to actually contend within the next few years, with the current core, Raymond and Seider need to be legit all-stars. At least one of Edvinsson or ASP need to develop into a legit top pair defenser. At least one if not two of Kasper, Danielson, and MBN need to be consistent first line caliber. One of Cossa or Augustine needs to be a top-10 starter. Or otherwise Yzerman will need to go get the talent from outside the system.

It's a tall order. Not impossible. But it's going to require some more good (and difficult) decisions and good luck.
- Sven22

For me it really depends on whether or not you believe the organization truly and consciously made a concerted effort to tank and/or rebuild under Holland. Personally, I don’t think “rebuilding on the fly”, is a rebuild, which was the Holland plan. The Coyotes/Utah have selected 8 times in the first round since and including the 2021 draft, four drafts. That’s a concerted effort to rebuild. Holland never did that.

Being bad at your job and rebuilding can be two totally separate things, although the net result in the standings can be the same. Holland grabbing a bunch of third round picks isn’t exactly conducive to truly rebuilding your club.

For me the rebuild started five years ago when Yzerman made his first draft pick in 2019. To me he’s clearly building a defence and then he’ll concentrate on the forwards. What you’re seeing with this group is just lip service for a future plan.