While your facts are probably correct the question is which deals shouldn't have been made at the time they were made? Collectively I agree that our cap is not good but I'm not sure there are deals which could have been avoided.
The UFA market is drying up as more and more teams lock up their good players earlier and earlier.
The cap hasn't increased like anticipated.
Bob's health could not have been foreseen.
Taking on Clarkson's deal was a complete disaster.
Hartnell is still earning his money.
Tyutin slowed down a bit earlier than hoped.
Foligno - I was against that one before he had a career year. Now that he is back to his normal production I worry it is too long and for too much. Others will disagree because of all the intangibles he brings. Maybe he is a million too high and a year or two too long.
Bottom line is I don't see a lot that could have been done to avoid the current situation.
Espenk, you're not a GM. Neither am I. Individually, a case can be made for every deal which has been signed. Except for the Horton/Clarkson disaster, obviously.
Leaving a team with no flexibility when it's not a superstar-laden franchise is, quite simply, incompetent. A GM has to pick and choose among non upper echelon players. It's either Dubinsky or Foligno. Not both when you already have a Hartnell and Clarkson's contract. One had a likely career year, the other is nothing special.
Is Saad worth his deal? It's a given on this board that he is. I'm not so sure. He certainly wasn't a "no brainer" to go long term-not when he was an RFA with at least 4 years to go until free agency.
Bob should have been signed longer term for less money per year. He'd be easier to move. This front office has myopia regarding bridge deals. I'm not buying that he wouldn't have gone long term on his bridge for a tad less than $6m per.
Tyutin's contract is not the FOs fault. It's not out of the question to say that his decline was predictable-insiders see him every day in practice and have access to his physical test results-and he might have had some market value last season, perhaps with some salary retention.
Calvert, Campbell and Boll are $5.6 million per year between them. Not much value there. I'll give the FO a pass on Boll as I suspect ownership may have driven that deal.
The sum total of the signed deals given the caliber of players and the lack of discretion-signing EVERYONE save a departed #1C-on a team which was a borderline playoff team isn't sound management. There's not another team in the league which is so hemmed in with relatively mediocre talent and minimal cap room.
Foligno, Dubinsky, Hartnell, Bob, Tyutin, and Clarkson are not easily tradable pieces without retention. Having 6 big contracts which are hard to move is not good management.
