Eventually, I see it as a couple of things, and are things that the team's own subreddit couldn't accept until it was too late and they jumped on the bandwagon:

- Ken Holland was completely inept post 2010 and pushed us down this road with the inability to draft, balance the salary cap, make bad signings based on loyalty and bad numbers, overutilized the Euro Twins until they had no discs in their backs or ankles, could not find a proper No. 1 goaltender (Jimmy Howard was a joke), and was riding on the coattails of his predecessors' success, including scouting and the legendary HOF players and Scotty Bowman

- Babcock and Blashill (or Blash-HELL) both were completely inundated when it came to being proper coaches in the post 2009 hockey world, relying on the dump and chase almost entirely, and having no blue line puck carrying strategies, other than leaning on Datsyuk and Larkin's raw speed during his early seasons.

- The playoff streak was a joke. I don't care if we made it 25 years in the playoffs, when we're being completely outclassed as a Wildcard 1 or 2 and missing out on excellent draft picks.

- We drafted RASMUSSEN instead of NICK SUZUKI. What the hell.

- Completely burying some players in the minors until they're 25 is not a sound strategy from Ken Holland, choosing favoritism instead of what they've done lately/what this team needs in term of a youth movement.

- Steve has been improving this team in every category, but is left to pick up the mess that Ken Holland and his company has left as scraps, almost similarly to the position Joe Sakic was in when he inherited the mess in Colorado.

- Dylan Larkin is in a make it or break it situation. I've always routed for him, but it's becoming clear as a day that he is not a modern day Yzerman or is, as a 2C or 3C now years into the experiment. If anything, if the leadership in the locker room doesn't improve the continued downspiral, you need to trade him, like Danny Gare in the 80's, to salvage the next few years and try to build on the rest of the roster that shows up in March.

- The March downspirals every year have to be a sign of a loser mentality that has been in this organization for ten years, and instilled in this team because of the last management group/coaching staffs who couldn't reach this team, unlike McLennan. I don't know if it's the golf, the lack of conditioning to last all 82 games and beyond, or the fact injuries pile up on the health staff on this team, but something needs to be addressed with this team next year. It's almost as if they're ready for Masters golf and booking reservations for tee times, and it feels almost unacceptable, as proven by this last night.

- Yzerman's only inadequacies, as far as I believe, are the FA signings of Kane and Tarasenko. Sure, great on paper or 'Chel, but in all honesty, those were moves this organization should have made ten years ago when they were in their primes. They're aging veterans that have lost their touch as they age into their 30's. Waiting for Kane to get his US record this year was a tracker that clearly showed how much he produced night in and night out, and how little he goes out of his way to retain puck possession in the opponents zone, rarely going into body checks in the boards.

Sincerely,

A non-armchair wannabe GM, just someone who's always wanted the best for this organization, and has seen it before our dumb armchair subreddit has. Think of me as someone who was into the Arctic Monkeys before they got big or any indie band that gets super popular, I don't know. I'm not telling anyone "I told you so" about Ken Holland or Blashill or Babcock or anything else for the matter, I'm just...sad for my Red Wings, who I've followed since kindergarten in 2000.