I would be perfectly content with The Detroit Red Wings missing the playoffs for the next 5 years in a row, provided I saw what I believed to be an accumulation of young talent at all positions that had reasonable odds of turning into mostly very good, and occasionally elite players. That's called BUILDING.
What they're doing now is DECAYING, because Datsyuk is gone, Zetterberg and Kronwall SHOULD be gone, Richards and Quincey aren't worth bringing back, Franzen and Ericsson are (for different reasons) on bad contracts, and guys like Tatar and Nyquist have essentially reached a plateau of above-averageness.
COULD Larkin and Mrazek and Athanasiou and Mantha BECOME a major portion of the next core? Sure, but none of those players are a sure thing, and even if they do all pan out, it won't be for at least another 2-3 years. By then, the Wings will be missing the playoffs anyway, so why delay the inevitable, when you could be stocking up on better draft picks, to have everybody hit their prime at the same time?
It's baffling to me, why people would want to continue to tread water, when the track record is very clear that they have absolutely no shot at DOING ANYTHING once they get into the playoffs. Just rip off the band-aid and go full-on for the future. I'm not saying you go scorched earth on 100% of the roster, but there are several vets that just don't have a place here anymore, so stop prolonging the inevitable.