Losing the asset to the KHL is a miss for sure. No matter how you slice it this is a feather taken out of Botteril's cap, if he has any left. However, unlike many here, I never saw Pilut as a top 4 defenseman at the NHL level, certainly not a top 4 on a playoff team. Used correctly he could have made a solid third pairing Dman. The problem is we have about 3-5 young defenseman that will need to start playing NHL minutes in the next three years to keep their hockey and asset value development on track. In my mind his best use, along with Risto and McCabe, was as a trade asset to fix some of the monster holes in our lineup.
Ultimately this is the continued pain of the failure to move a seasoned defenseman late summer through fall, which basically pissed all the defenseman off, prevented Ralph from getting a top 7 set, and ultimately probably cost us some points in the standings.
The only positive here, is that if you are uncertain about his ability to consistently play well at the NHL level, then you qualify him, let him play his two years in the KHL, and if he can handle it and excel, you can revisit signing him for a fulltime spot or trading his rights with more value. Not a total loss here, but one that was not needed.