The 2017 offseason was of course also the Sergachev for Drouin trade with JD getting his easy peasy 6 year contract. And the Price contract. And after letting Markov AND Radu go, Berg managed to have his contending team sitting on 8-9M in cap space.
That offseason work came after his infamous 2017 trade deadline. Team needs more scoring? Well, too bad, we acquired Ott, King and Martinsen.
After that 2017-18 finished at the bottom of the league that was when Berg 100% should have been shown the door.
The was so sad it was hysterical, Everyone, including Ott, King and Martinsen, was like, WTF? Those guys were healthy scratches on their respective teams, but here they were, traded to a team that would feature them playing in the playoff
. Bergevin had never lived up to his nickname, BargainBin, quite like he did with this trade
. This said, BargainBin had the right idea - address the need to make the team bigger -but many of us were thinking this should involve big, skilled (or at least somewhat skilled) players, not straight-up goons.