It was a mistake in hindsight for sure, but at least get the context right.
Kerfoot was not kept over McCann. They went 4F / 4D / 1G instead of 7F / 3D / 1G.
Holl was kept as the 4th D and they moved a prospect and a 7th round pick to Pittsburgh (the ultimate losers in all of this) for McCann so that they could expose both Kerfoot and McCann and guarantee they kept one of them.
Yes, Holl was not worth keeping in the end. If not for the McCann move, they would have lost Kerfoot instead. If they kept Kerfoot/McCann + another forward, they would have lost Holl and had a gaping hole at RD.
There was no gaping hole at RHD
This is a dumb narrative dubas fans were trying to create then
In 2021 we had Lilijgren who was supposed to be NHL ready amd a quick transition to top 4RHD. He had been cooked for 4 years in the AHL and a few NHL games at that point.
Holding Holl made no sense unless we didnt believe in Lilijgren and thought he wasnt able to be more than 5-7D for the next two years.
It was terrible asset management for a guy who already showed he struggles away from Muzzin.
Dubas needed to trade Holl for a few picks and then leave Kerfoot exposed and sign/acquire a D to be able to be picked up in the expansion draft.
If we went 7-3-1 it should have been
Matthews
Marner
NYlander
Tavares
McCann
Forward 6 (Spezza)
Forward 7 (kerfoot)
Rielly
Muzzin
Brodie