Hayes has ALWAYS stunk. He has had like one good year and only produced because he was able to be put up against 2nd/3rd lines due to their teams forward depth.
I don't mind getting him for a 6th, whatever. But flipping him a year later for a 2nd is unacceptable asset management when this team is in the middle of a rebuild.
It was clearly a mistake to have dealt for him. Army thought it was low risk move, but it ended up having hidden cost in that we had to pay to make him go away. So pretty crappy all around. And paying asset to move 2 years left during non-contender years is bad look. So Army gets failing Hayes grade all around.
But I would also point out that EVERY gm who isn't afraid of his shadow makes similarly crappy moves. Yzerman paid a 2nd to get rid of Walman who he just extended a year or so ago. Vancouver has paid a couple times to get rid of their mistakes (including this weekend with Mikheyev) and their guy was just finalist for GM of year. Brisebois is hailed for his 2 Cups, but he just dealt Jeannot for far less than he overpaid for him just over a year ago and he also basically took a do-over on dumping McD to keep Sergachev, but the 2 years where they didn't have McD were hige missed opportunity while their window was still open.
And those are among the more highly regarded GM. But we don't judge them by their worst deal or even by their mistakes in general, we judge GMs by whether they can build team into contender and whether once they become contenders they can get team over the top. Army has done that, our record during his tenure is among the league's best, we won our first Cup, and have now begun process of restocking for next window (which will open after Army steps back in favor of Steen). So Army isn't perfect, and they likely won't spotlight the Hayes trade on his HOF plaque, but he is likely to get inducted (Olympic Gold in 26 would be feather in his cap too).
So yeah, this Hayes (and krug) situation sucks, but who among us has never made a mistake? Everyone is praising Conroy and Grier for their great drafts- and they may well become great GMs- but everyone has criticized them both fairly non-stop until this weekend. Time will tell.