The one specific NHL draft that set the Detroit Red Wings back the most

Depending on who you talk to, the Red Wings began their rebuild in 2017, 2018, or 2019, whenGM Steve Yzerman took over from Ken Holland.

Whether or not you agree to an official timeline of this beginning, the 2018 NHL Draft offered the team options to turn the lineup into something special, which GM Ken Holland at the time was unable to do.

The team held four picks in the first round and 10 through the entire draft. They used their capital to select Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno. Neither plays in Detroit, and one plays for the Blackhawks now as a depth center.

The Red Wings selected both Joe Veleno and Filip Zadina in the first round. Both were touted as players who would be building blocks in the team's ongoing rebuild, Zadina an elite forward, and Veleno a two-way center who would play on the 2nd-line.

Veleno would be traded, and Zadina would find himself in a San Jose Sharks uniform in order to find a fresh start as a result of his contract being terminated. He was unable to successfully convert the opportunity into a full-time NHL role. Veleno has always been just a depth center who has found himself in the bottom-six ranks in Chicago after spending four years in the Red Wings system.

The drafting by Holland has set the team back considerably when you look at the playing time given to the two players, and they've turned into busts.

Veleno was traded for Petr Mrazek and Craig Smith. While Mrazek has returned to Detroit to give the team some stable goaltending, he remains under contract for a season longer. While Smith, a pending UFA, seems an underpayment for someone who was drafted 30th overall in 2018.

The Red Wings' prospect pool was emptied and hollow until GM Steve Yzerman arrived in 2019. Holland left the team with deficiencies evident across the roster, and while Yzerman has done his best to fill them with placeholders or 2nd or 3rd-line talent, it's not enough to make the team into bona fide competitors.

GM Ken Holland left the team disparate and in disarray, as their lineup resembled more of an expansion team's roster that has to build on scraps from other teams' rosters to stay afloat.

Since 2019, Yzerman has slowly and steadily improved the lineup and prospect pool, drafting Elmer Soderblom, Albert Johansson, and Moritz Seider in 2019.

The road out of rebuild hell may be arduous but hopeflly, it will be temporary.