Not true. First of all, the rebuild didn't start two years ago. So, if he only embraced (his own!) rebuild two years ago, then he's a bit late to his own party. What you mean is that over the last two years, he's avoided his worst mistakes. He's merely done that: over the last two years, he's finally embraced his own rebuild and avoided his worst mistakes. However, he's not going about things without issues. To answer your question directly, he's giving away, instead of his previous like extra five years on a contract, just an extra year or two. Instead of paying millions more than he should on a single contract, he's paying an extra million too much here and there. It may pail in comparison to how he was, but with a 20-man roster, an extra year too long and an extra million in payroll here and there adds up. It adds up to an extent that the Wings could afford more talent than they have. How long will it take him to learn how to GM in the salary cap era?
That's just one problem he's had over the last couple of years.
Ken was good because he made the Wings one of the first organizations to cast a wide net scouting for prospects. That was good, and for that he deserves credit, but he gets more credit than he deserves. Since basically every other team has been scouting the same way, he hasn't performed all that well in comparison. I mean, we went a decade without a 30-goal scorer. That's not a good recent record, especially when you consider that the Wings have gone about as long or longer without drafting a star defender or goalie. He may not be the worst, but he's not doing well with that lately.
He and Nill were good together. Neither have been very good apart. And Kenny's biggest accomplishments came before the salary cap, which basically means the credit should not go to him but to the ownership who were willing to spend. He should have retired when Babcock left.
