You are absolutely right and this is a great post. Bergevin made the right call on both Markov and Radulov. Like you, I think he tried hard to get Radulov, but didn't want to overpay or over-commit to a long term deal, and Radulov chose to walk, that's not on Bergevin. In fact, if Bergevin had signed Radulov and Markov to the deals they wanted, people would complain about him throwing money at aging players in decline. Isn't that what people often criticize him for? That he'd rather sign aging players and mediocre players like Weise and give them ice time instead of developing young players? Well, now he is actually leaving some room on the team, which will give young players more of a chance to earn a roster spot. It's also a smart move to start the season with a lot of cap space, and take advantage of it halfway through the season or at the deadline when there might be a few teams desperate for a trade, or when the value of certain players would be lower. Why give up a lot now in a trade, when you could get the same player for less later?
The ironic thing is that this thread is titled the "5 stages of grief" edition. But Bergevin's critics actually go through the 5 stages of grief every time Bergevin does something good. They can't stand the idea that Bergevin actually did something right, because that would mean he might not be fired any time soon, and so they all go through the denial, anger, etc. Except they never reach the final stage of acceptance. It's weird how backwards so many "fans" on this board are - wanting for the team to do badly so that management would be fired, wanting management to make bad moves so that they are more likely to be fired. And when Bergevin actually does something good, THAT"s the thing that causes them to go into denial. How backwards and inside-out is that?
