There is no question that that was an incredibly stupid move. I would, however, argue that in the balance of things it's not had as large of an impact as we feared. (Unless we really wanted to draft Kristian Vesalainen.)
From what I recall about the move - Horton was coming off from a shoulder issue so that part of his body could not be insured. From there it was a decision by CBJ management to not insure rest. No one was ever fired so it tells me (and again just IMO) it was a decision by those far up in organization, not an oversight by an attorney or AGM level.
It was at the time the biggest contract the CBJ had ever done so no idea why they didn't insure it. It's like buying a $1M house, not having insurance on it, then a fire occurs and not having enough money to rebuild it so you're left with a vacant lot.
IMO the trade for Clarkson was just trying to bury/hide the evidence in the hope that Clarkson would at least be a useful 3rd-4th line forward. It was a god send for Toronto who was stuck with it, and we can see now what they are able to do with the roster flexibility (since they have plenty of cash it's not an issue for them).
Then once Clarkson got hurt we had insurance but the CBJ again figured out they needed more flexibility and gave up a first to Vegas. Vegas surely likes the deal they got a 40 goal scorer, then they flipped the 1st round pick for a guy picked 13 overall, and eventually ended up in the SCF.
So I would disagree on the impact. Until last season we had a large chunk of money tied up for 4 seasons in a guy who couldn't play or for a season a guy playing 8 minutes on the 4th line.
Also by our oversight it's allowed Toronto to make rapid changes to their roster and we played a significant role in Vegas making a run to the SCF.