Two of those 4.5 years were getting this team out of the cap hell Holmgren put this team in. But keep ignoring that issue. The league changed with the most recent lockout. Holmgren's style of management doesn't work in a cap league.
I never said Homer was perfect, but people here are acting like he was a bumbling idiot and Hextall was a glorious leader with only one fault of keeping Honk. Yeah, we were starting to see the problem with the bad contracts on the team, but at least Holmgren could point to some actual success he got from giving out those contracts.
Homer inherited a team with a core of Richards, Carter, Gange, Pitkanen, and a broken down Forsberg. Within 2.5 years he added Hartnell, Kimmo, Briere, Coburn, and Pronger, and the team had the most playoff succes it had seen since Lindros.
Hextall inherited a team with Giroux, Simmonds, Jake, Couts, B. Schenn, Mason, and Striet, and after he spent 2 years clearing out bad contracts, who did he add to the roster through trades or signings over the 2.5 years after that? How well did the team do after that? Garbage on both accounts.