Nearly all the contracts you’re waiting for to roll off the cap are guys Botts has traded for. So why should I trust him to do the right thing going forward?
Uh, I didn't say you should. I even acknowledged the lack of trust in Botts and didn't necessarily condemn it. Just saying whether it's by design or not, we're in a surprisingly good spot cap-wise.
However, given Botts emphasis on Rochester, development, his interest in acquiring futures, and general lack of interest in giving up high draft picks... he probably doesn't view the future of this team being built on placeholders on term-friendly deals he acquired as cap dumps in bigger moves (Sobotka, Pominville, Hunwick). And those particular players probably weren't intended to be brought in as a means of impressing anyone.
Sheary is still good NHL depth despite his streaky-ness (maybe re-sign him a little cheaper if possible).
Scandella fell off a cliff for some inexplicable reason, he was fine up until this year so I see no reason to hound Botts about him (though it's good he's gone soon if this is how he's going to play).
Beaulieu was an obvious reclamation project that even he probably would say could've gone either way and the fans more or less agreed on this when he was acquired (hopefully we get something for him this TDL).
Botts talent evaluation ability IMO, will live or die on how these players he's drafting turn out and moves to get players like Pilut and Thompson. The entirety of which the jury is still out on and will be for a while. I know, I know... we need answers right this second and it's "convenient" that we might have to wait more than a year or two to execute Botts for his transgressions... but they are the players that are going to stabilize Rochester, and they're the players that are going to be pushing and supporting our top guys for years to come. Way more important than anyone Botts has acquired recently not named Skinner, Pilut or Thompson.