I genuinely don't understand how people can be unhappy with JR's moves, outside of Despres and Winnik. Yes, again, for the thousandth time, those two moves were horrific and bad--respectively--but what else has he done that people would like to fault him for?
Perron for the 1st rounder? The odds that the first rounder would help this team any time within the next several years is next to nil. Perron's been a hard-working, highly skilled top six winger for his entire career. I think people put way too much stock into a couple of months of admittedly terrible play. The entire team, top to bottom, was absolute garbage for several months. If you think that's an appropriate time to evaluate players, so be it, but that seems idiotic to me. A ton of you would've traded Neal for peanuts right after his atrocious start on this team.
Lapierre for Goc? Pretty insignificant move. We may have lost a bit in possession for a boost in speed and snarl.
The Kessel deal? We traded a 1st, who again wouldn't have done anything for this team for years. A 3rd, which is a crapshoot at best. We traded Kapanen, who was promising, but still at least a year, maybe two away. Harrington was a decent defensive prospect, but he's likely only ever going to be a safe bottom pairing guy, if that. We landed one of the best wingers in the league, who is locked up at as good a price as you could ask for, for essentially the remainder of Sid and Geno's tenure here.
The Sutter deal? We traded a perennial underwhelming 3C and a 3rd rounder for an upgrade in Bonino, a wildcard type of guy in Clendening, and a 2nd rounder. We also managed to get a great return for Sutter before it was too late, contract-wise.
We signed Fehr, a pretty good bottom-six player who comes at a pretty insignificant price tag.
We drafted several highly skilled forwards, one of which (Sprong) seems to have the talent to be a steal as a 2nd rounder.
We traded Bortuzzo, a bottom-pairing, borderline NHLer for Cole, who seems to be a bit of an upgrade. We lose a bit of snarl, but we get a better player overall.
Ehrhoff? It was a low risk move that could've paid off. I still think the Ehrhoff signing was an insurance play in preparation to move Martin. Injuries prevented that. Ehrhoff's season here was pretty abysmal, but it was a 1-year deal for just a bit more than Scuderi makes. Not really something to be upset about.
Neal for Hornqvist + Spaling? This is another move I could understand people having issues with. For a team as desperate for winger help to move a guy with as much skill and offensive ability as Neal, it was a shock. I would still make the move though. We got a guy who can score a pretty respectable amount of goals (I'd say he's good for 30+ if healthy), and his game is more adept for playoff hockey. All the while bringing a skillset we've been wholly lacking for years. Hornqvist's net-front presence is hands down the best in the league, and his hands in tight are incredible as well. He's not the best skater, but he's always working his ass off, and that's why I think we went out and got him. As talented as Neal is, he's prone to lazy, idiotic, ineffective play. Bottom line, we wanted a shift and we got it. I'm still happy with Hornqvist, he's phenomenal.
At the very most, JR's made 4 questionable to horrendous moves; Neal<->Hornqvist (still think it was good for us), Ehrhoff (low-risk, didn't work out), Winnik (overpayment for a pretty ineffective player for us), and Despres (horrendous). The amount of good has outweighed the bad pretty significantly, even if the Despres deal was terrible and the Winnik deal was a pretty big mistake.