Has Ken Holland embraced a lengthier rebuild? Some juicy quotes from this article (and there are a bunch):
Have we broken Ken Holland? We were talking all about how Holland was aiming messaging at the season ticketholders to keep hope alive and attendance up. Regardless of whether he was doing that before, he's definitely not doing that now.
There was also that recent interview where Holland said he wanted to compete for the playoffs next season though.
I see this more as Holland saying he's taking it year by year now. He's getting to a point where he wants the team to become more competitive, but he's letting the season play out to see where they're at. So this time next year, if they're is competitive, I think we'll see Holland either be a buyer to bolster the team or at least stand pat. But if we're in a similar position at this time next year, then he'll do the same thing he's done the last couple years. Sell some expiring contracts for picks.
I actually think we're decently far along the rebuild already. It's just hard to make any concrete predictions/plans because the one piece of the rebuild that hasn't fallen into place yet is the hardest to acquire, stars. But with a home run pick in the coming draft and a star free agent like Karlsson, then this team is 90% of the way there IMO.