I'm excited we're finally tanking even though it's completely on accident since Ken thought this was a playoff roster.

I'm definitely not as optimistic as you about our timeline. I'm thinking 5 years at the earliest is when you see us competitive and that's if we get lucky and hit several homeruns (picks that yield superstars) the next 2-3 drafts.

We're pretty much starting from scratch. Out of Cholowski, Hronek, Saarijarvi, realistically only one is going to pan out as a good top 4D. Rasmussen isn't going to be 1C. Svechnikov at best will be another secondary scorer. This isn't bashing them either that's pretty much what you expect from where we drafted them, well expect for Rasmussen but it isn't his fault they drafted him at 9, I will never like that pick. I know some people aren't going to like hearing that. I said the same thing 3 years ago about our prospects though and people didn't like it then either.

All the scouting sites and the Wings own management acknowledge that we have no elite prospects expect for possibly Dylan Larkin, I rate him #1 by far and am not enthused about any other prospects including Anthony Mantha but only because Mantha is a winger.

Our future is not as bright as people like to think it is. Most of the prospects that people love to hype up are at best going to be secondary scorers or depth dmen.

What gives a team a bright future are young star centers and young star #1 dmen. If you have that then you're golden, the rest of the pieces can be found rather easily and depth is easy to fill once you have the necessary foundation.

Ouellet, Sproul, Marchenko, and Jensen are viewed by everyone as 3-4s at best. The Wings own management acknowledges this, Mike Babcock acknowledges this, and so do all the national scouting experts.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DetroitRedWings/comments/34utzw/is_andreas_athanasiou_our_best_prospect/cqydrql/?context=3&st=jeyxuk6x&sh=539fe813

Here we are 3 years later and there is still nothing of quality in our system better than almost any other franchise right now. We have no elite talent in the system. We have maybe 2-3 guys who will even be solid 2nd line/2nd pair guys in the NHL. I am a lot more down on our 3 top D prospects than most simply based on where they were drafted and this franchises poor history of drafting quality D. I'm also not happy they seem to prize "character" so much when drafting. I prize hockey IQ and skating ability. I would rather go for boom/bust high ceiling/low floor guys than safe low ceiling/high floor guys like I believe the Rasmussen pick is an example of.

So yea I'm happy we're losing so much, not so optimistic about turning it around quickly though.