For one, it's not really all that much hindsight given I talked about it several years ago. Obviously I knew it'd never happen given this front office only admitted about 6 months ago that they're in a rebuilding scenario - smart fans noticed this over 5 years ago, even the dumbest fans probably about a year ago.
Secondly, the decision to trade someone is not derived from their current value but the value they have in relation to your team's ability to win a Cup. The Wings were not a Cup contender then and with their stars ageing and declining..they weren't really in position to be one again with their core (reality proved this quite convincingly as they didn't even get close to contending again).
Once they're no longer a contender, the smart team drops what they have of value for the current cycle and picks up stuff useful in the next cycle. Zetterberg was a very useful player then, so one could have gotten something useful in return. Useful not for 2012 or 2013, but useful for 2017, 2018 and so forth. What valuable thing did Wings fans or Wings stakeholders get between 2012 and 2018? Abysmal playoff failures? A slow but steady skid into terrible team territory? Rebuilding before it's obvious to even the last sentimentally attached fan out there gives you the distinct advantage of not wasting several years in no man's land while you're figuring out what to do. The Wings failed to do that, some fans knew it then, some fans still can barely accept it now. Sad.
Same smarter-than-thou nonsense this board has been full with for years. Trade either of the Eurotwins in 2011? Why the hell start a rebuild when you are still a contender?
In 2011-12, The wings had a roster with Lidstrom, peak Kronwall, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, peak Franzen, 66 point Filpulla, 50 point Hudler on an upward curve, Cleary & Bertuzzi still being useful, Stuart, pre injury Ericsson, Smith excelling in the AHL, Kindl still on his upward cure, Homer, Abby, Helm when he could still fly and crash and bang, Howard starting with 9.20 sv %, not to mention prospects like Nyquist, Tatar & Sheahan looking like good NHL prospects, Almqvist destroying junior D scoring records in Sweden, Pulks had gone PPG in Finland as a 19 year old, Mrazek had had a great junior season, Jensen having a great college season, Joakim Anderson about to go 0.75 ppg in the AHL as a checker, Emmerton was about to graduate to the NHL, Mursak had been great in the AHL and with no injuries, Jarnkrok was being touted as Zetterberg light, even mitch callahan had gone almost PPG in junior as an agitator & ferraro at that point looked a plausible NHL regular, and even Dick Axelsson was still a prospect with a future! On top of that they had just picked up Jurco who was putting up points for fun, Ouellet who was going to win Q defensman of the year, Sproul soon to win OHL d-man of the year, Backman as a regular in the SHL and even Marchenko!
The revisionists LOVE to say that they all knew long in advance that we needed to tear it down from years ago, but at the point in time raised, the wings were genuine cup contenders, were widely ranked at having a good prospect pipeline and everyone and his dog were calling Kenny a genius.
If you say 2015 or 2014 that you felt the direction should change, I'd believe you, but back in 2011 & 2012, the wings had a really good team. Not quite the level of 08 & 09, but still only one team in the NHL had more than 3 regular season points more than the wings, and Det was universally considered a contender. Plus they had a LOT of prospects people around the league rated.
The aging process and the odd injuries people could have predicted, but no-one could have forseen almost all the best prospects striking out badly, a number of strategically questionable trades and the team who had been so good in FA striking out a number of times.
I don't remember anyone in 2011 saying it was time start the rebuild...