The Victors

Just not quite good enough. There are several reasons, but here we are:

--It takes time for draft picks to make it; prior regime draft picks were not as good
--Drafting after the first round by Yzerman was not great, though his early picks were good
--Not enough trades of substance. Debrincat and Faulk trades were good but not enough of those and a lot of minor deals
--Mixed bag on free agency
--some bad luck. East has been super difficult and they were close to the playoffs this year. Actually tied for the last playoff spot 2 years ago.

The team had only 40 points in Yzermans' first year. They climbed steadily to 90 points in Year 5. After a slight pullback to 86 the following year, they had 92 this year. This was the Wings' best year in 10 seasons.

So I think he knows what he is doing. For whatever reason, other things didn't happen. They were a singing and a trade away from a really good team next year. But the Larkin thing more or less put a wrench in it. They signed Arvidsson but lost Kane so that's a push. No trade and a disgruntled Larkin.

They really aren't far away if they could tinker with a few pieces.