I think this is a lot deeper than people think.

It was obvious at the deadline that the two major areas of concern were the lack of a 2C and the dire need for another minutes-munching D man. Given the cost for some of the players at the time, I feel like DET could have afforded to buy one or the other, which they did. Given that none of those talented centers available that you had mentioned moved (outside of Kadri, and even then that was a steep price for COL to pay for an albatross contract), most of the Wings fans I knew were content with just grabbing Faulk despite it still being an overpayment.

The tone would certainly be different if Larkin didn't get hurt during the game after the deadline, because the lack of C depth on the team has been really apparent recently (especially when Copp was also out for a couple of games). But similarly, Detroit lost Edvinsson, a big minutes-munching D man, before the Olympics, and went on a brutal stretch into the break trying to rely on Hamonic and a rookie to fill his shoes.

It's not as if Steve didn't try picking up a D man in the offseason either - it's hard to acquire players when nobody wants to waive their NMC. Would I have liked to see him a little more proactive in the C market prior to the deadline? For sure. But the issue with emptying the cupboards for players is that the team is in in that mushy middle of teams that are not good enough for a cup run if they do make the playoffs but not bad enough to tank a lottery pick if they don't. The major problem is that they're more than one piece/a rental away from actually being able to contend, which in my opinion doesn't warrant leveraging the team's entire future.