In late June, on the eve of what would become a crucial NHL draft for the future of his franchise, Red Wings GM Ken Holland searched for the right words.



He had just been asked about how many spots he wanted open when the Red Wings got to training camp, but that would have been a tough question to answer so many months out. So as he answered, he ended up talking about vision.



“What I’m trying to get everybody to understand is we are going younger,” he said. “But the reality is, it might take 40 games, it might take 80 games, it might be next year. I just can’t put a bunch of kids on the ice and think that we’re going to wake up in three years and we’re gonna have a tremendous hockey team. They might all lose their confidence. We need to be competitive, we need to go into the game knowing that we’ve got a chance to win the game — and if we don’t win, it’s been a really good game. … We’re...