Brodie was an elite defender, who has aged and lost a good deal of his effectiveness. But Rielly has never, ever been a good defender, let alone elite. It could be ugly for him real fast. We might be stuck with Keith Yandle for six more years.
Signing Tavares was the biggest mistake this whole regime made. But another was the ongoing mischaracterization of Morgan Rielly as a #1 defenseman. He's never been one. But we play him like he is, and we pay him like he is. When we look back at what went wrong in this era, that's going to be a huge part of it.