Zman5778
Moderator
set the franchise back in total talent and development during the prime of Eichel's career.
While I agree that Botts has reduced the overall talent on the roster --- most of that is strictly due to the ROR deal and there's more nuance to it.
He's vastly increased the talent on the back end.....and done it in a way that parallels the way the NHL is going. Our back end is mostly mobile and mostly full of puck movers. By any stretch it's a big-time plus to me the way he's handled the defense.
However, while we might be a LITTLE deeper at forward than we were.....losing ROR means we're less talented by default. While I disagree with your notion that the trade set us back "5 plus" years...it has set us back. If we get Mitts back on track and keep Cozens on track and if Tage hits, and if one or two more picks hit......we're going to be looking darned good. That's a lot of "ifs" though.
If/when Botts is fired (and I don't think it'll be after this year unless we pull another disappearing act in Feb/Mar/Apr) I think his legacy is two-fold: He brought our D up to spec with today's NHL but made an ill-fated trade that ultimately he couldn't recover from.