1. The team didn't get worse. It's a disappointing day, but the team is no worse off than they were on February 27th. Nothing they did yesterday was going to make or break the future of this team.
Only if you ignore opportunity cost, which is a folly.
2. At least they walked away from the lowball offer right at the deadline. If it's true that Dallas circles back right before the deadline with an offer of a mid-round pick and a lesser prospect, I think you have to have some pride and walk away. I know Benning is not known around these parts as a strong negotiator, but I think you have to show that you're not going to be forced into making bad deals just because you're under the gun.
As much as it would be better to get something rather than nothing, I don't think you can let other GMs force you into a bad deal just because your under the gun. Ultimately, Dallas lost out on a good defenseman. No deal hurts them as much as it hurts the Canucks.
Management since they have been here have been poor negotiators. One instance of putting your foot down isn't going to change that. Even if it could, it's dumb to decide that market value is important when you have an opportunity for a pure profit move. Save it for when you are negotiating deals like the Granlund deal.
So while yesterday was an extremely frustrating and discouraging day in many respects, it's not one that does much permanent damage.
This is how most teams are run into the ground: lots of little dumb decisions that don't by themselves cause permanent damage.
La, Chicago, Dallas were his teams. La didn't want him, Dallas chose Russell, Chicago I'm not sure what went on there
Friedman said that Hamhuis would have gone to one of the top teams in the East too.