I had no problem with wanting to go for it so I would not have traded Radulov & Markov. The acquisitions of Martinsen, Ott and King ended up being pointless but that underscores MB's lack of vision. The man doesn't know how to build a winning team.
I think the more important date was the off season. MB should have traded Captain Ready then. He could have had a king's ransom in return. Today he'll be lucky to get a millionaire's chump change. Most of the league except for Tortarella didn't know that Captain Ready was made of marshmallow psychologically. Today many hockey people realize that Patches is made of jelly. Also, he should have kept Sergachev and look into getting a couple of legit top six centers. Captain Ready back then would have returned a good young center prospect. But not today.
If he would have re-signed Markov & Radulov, kept Sergachev and traded the Captain for a legit top 6 center we would have been one center away from being contenders. And I don't believe Price would have had the melt down he did have.
But with this dunce of a GM it will always be what ifs and could have beens. He thinks tinkering with 4th liners and bottom pair d-men is the way to build a winning team.