I think their main goal was to add veteran presence. Guys that have been deep in the playoffs and can help guide our younger players.
Brad Richards at 2+m vs Daniel Briere at 4m + the loss of a 5th round pick
The point is to get a stop gap that fits what you need and will make your team better. Del Zotto would make this team worse. You don't bring in a guy who sucks at D when your D is weak. Same for McBain. We don't need another #5 PP fill in. What makes Butler better than Stuart? Neither are offensive guys. And 5 on 5 Stuart actually was playing in a highr role (2nd line vs 3rd line) on a much better team. Stuart is also big and physical, unlike Butler. Tallinder doesn't hit either, is even older and was another guy on a crappy team.
Fair enough, You are much higher on Stuart than I am, and as I've said, I only watched about 10 of his games last season and not solely to focus on and evaluate his play, and randomly searched some SJS GDTs from various parts of the season.
I was just pulling the list from the remaining FAs that wouldn't cost 2 picks and 3.6m to bring in who have at least performed on a 2nd pairing level at some point in their careers.
I will defer to your evaluations as I have to accept his presence on this team anyway.