The bad
Signed Calvin Pickard to 2 years - meh
Vasily Podkolzin - 3 points in 17 games and a really nice fight. meh
Pickard has been better than their actual starter. Their actual issue is the goalie coach, who is a nepotism hire, so he cannot be gotten rid of. Hence, it doesn't really matter which goalie they will get; he's going to always perform poorly. And for his price? I'm not sure how this can be considered bad.
As for Podkolzin, he's one of the best advanced stats players in the entire league, and by some metrics, leads the league advanced stats-wise. And he's also extremely cheap. The issue is that his oish% is only 3.92. This should be considered to be unsustainably low, considering his advanced metrics. 153 shots for, 10.95 expected goals for, but only 6 goals for. That's rough.
Today, he plays with McDavid and Draisaitl, and could well surprise. Or alternatively, it'll become clear that he's just a bottom 6 player. Either way, if he keeps this up, the rewards will come eventually, and for the 1 mil AAV, calling him bad at this point is premature(And this comes from a Podkolzin criticizer but he genuinely has improved his overall play in recent years).
Lost Broberg - Ouch
Lost Holloway - Ouch
Lost McLeod - Ouch
These are all bad, but they didn't have the cap for them. And then you consider many of the moves that cost the cap that could have been used on these players to be good moves.
Frankly, this is some confused analysis.