I think you try to get better with growth. You don't try yo get better trading 2nd round picks for 30 year olds with 1 year on their contracts. That literally makes no sense at all. There are always free agents you can snatch up to put around your kids. Trading for Leddy was just a bad move. It makes you very marginally better for one year so all that you gain is worse lottery odds. Yzerman quite literally paid for worse lottery odds and nothing more. That's not smart asset management no matter how you slice it.
I agree that growth is certainly the key driver of long term success in this franchise. However, to your second point that a "2nd round picks for 30 years olds with 1 year on their contracts. That literally makes no sense at all.". I would argue that it does make sense, at least from my perspective.
It was obvious, sometimes painfully so at times, the last two seasons just how poor our defense has been. And not just "defense" as our ability to prevent pucks from being scored, but truthfully, our ability to gain possession of the puck, and successfully transition the puck out of our zone in a reliable and consistent manner. I know it's often bounded about that you toss the kids in there and let them play, but what are they really learning at this point with the defensive play and basically all having to scramble back deep into their own zone to dig out every puck? They are learning how to survive with substandard talent are much of our guys development is being stunted by the fact not all the facets of the team are operating correctly. There is an emotional and psychological shot to doing that year over year with little progress. If the only game situation you put these kids in to develop is a substandard one with little to no support, what hope you do have for them to build skills that they rarely have the opportunity to practice?
If I take a highly touted, and really incredibly skilled prospect like Raymond for instance, and I played him on last years team. Really after seeing a puck in his own defensive zone be retrieved by..Marc Staal, he should be off to the races, moving up to the neutral zone looking for a breakout pass. Except it never comes, or if it does, it's off the mark, or he has to slow his stride down and lose momentum to wait for the puck. Now repeat that 20 times a game over 82 games - a really good player like Raymond who plays a complete game is going to start cheating back to provide puck support because he knows his defense can't get him the puck. Now he's way more focused on back checking, and potentially pulling himself out of rhythm or position that he can't get anything going because there isn't a good breakout because the defense just can't cut it. Repeat that enough times, it becomes a habit, or undermines their confidence, or makes me start way behind on the offensive possessions and time to develop the other half of their game.
That's what Leddy is. He is a very good LD, which we are short on at the moment, who is still in his prime years, who has consistently been a two-way, reliable 40pt professional and leader. He has tons of experience, in different systems, and playing different roles. He is as good as a defensive leader that isn't a Norris Caliber Captain from another team as we could've hoped for this in this point of the rebuild. He can play in all situations, he can act as a reliable partner to any of our young RD's (Seider, Hronek, Lindstrom, etc) where he can play and mentor and they can feel like the have a fallback to make mistakes because there is a good partner to help pick up the slack. He can play the PP and PK, he uses the body and can generate offense - he can provide meaningful advice and leadership to all aspects of our young D's game as opposed to...Marc Staal trying to help Seider develop his budding offensive instincts. And above all else, him being here means we spend less time chasing pucks, and more time making clean transitions out of our zone given guys like Zadina, Raymond, Suter, Larkin more time to work and build offense and confidence.
Yzerman got all of this in Leddy for a 2nd (and a cap dump). Now, even in the unlikely scenario that you agree that Leddy brings all of this, why not go grab a FA? Why spend our precious draft capital for him. Fair. You know the top LD available in this offseason by order of points scored last season?
Nick Leddy - 31pts - 29 years old - 1x $5.5M - Reference (really it's 4.2M since Panik was a cap hit going the other way but that's splitting hairs)
Alec Martinez - 32pts - 34 years old - 3x 5.25M AAV
Alex Goligoski - 22pts - 36 years old - 1x 5M AAV
Michael Del Zotto - 12pts - 31 years old - 2x 2M AAV
Derek Forbort - 12 pts - 29 years old - 2x 3M AAV
Erik Gustafsson - 11pts - 29 years old - UFA
Jordan Oesterle - 11 pts - 29 years old 2x 1.35M AAV
THAT is why Yzerman traded for Leddy. Outside of the fact that Detroit is obviously in a pure rebuild which would limit our attractiveness to pending free agents or at the very least cause us to have to add more in salary or term to sign one of these defenders, literally none of these guys are better than Nick Leddy is right now, or more versatile, and maybe Martinez as the exception, brings more to the table and even that's debatable. So the "just grab a UFA", it's not that simple.
As for the last bit, "not smart asset management". Leddy's contract, cost and term, is what makes this the best possible scenario. Leddy is exactly the kind of defenseman teams crave to add at the deadline to help bolster their Top 4 before they make a serious push. Historically, he should return back some significant assets if we chose to go that route given this being his last year and being quite affordable for such a quality D (even more we could retain on him and get his cap even lower to 2.65) raising his value even more. Looking back over the last few years of Top 4 D in this age range and offense - its Martinez for 2x 2nds, Savard for a 1st, Skjei for a 1st - it's reasonable to assume Leddy could return as much as well. Another scenario, he likes it here, performs well, and wants to be a part of our defense for the next 3-4 years; awesome! We got a Top 4 D who can eat 20 min, be a leader, knock in 30-40pts, and hold the fort until Edvinsson is ready to take over. Having quality teammates, professionals, and mentors for young developing prospects to learn from is never a bad thing. Leddy is excellent asset management because he is already worth more than that 2nd, is not taking any ice time or blocking the development of someone, and could result in a greater draft pick return or even a long term position.
I am still not sold on many of the picks we took this year - I am at peace with the Edvinsson pick only because I think he has a certain floor that is valuable to us, even if his ceiling is murky. But the one trade I came to like more than any this offseason is the Leddy trade especially after seeing how the Expansion Draft and Free Agency went.