Agree with this, except they didn't so much "keep" Zibenijad as he was the first domino of the rebuild even if we didn't know it at the time. They acquired him (and a 2nd round pick) by trading Derrek Brassard, who was six years older at the time. Eighteen months later they sent out the letter, traded McDonough, and the rebuild was on.
We could do the same thing by trading Konecny for a player that better fits a rebuild timeline instead of a let's maybe make the playoffs timeline. Instead, we will sign him to a long term deal and wonder why the team hasn't done anything in 5 years.