Quoting: Lenny7
I mean, Murray definitely duffed when he signed Perry/Kesler long term, but the Rakell, Fowler, Lindholm, Gibby, Manson, Montour, Kase contracts are all excellent. Even the Henrique one is similar to what he'd be paid on the open market.
They've also got a bit of cap space coming up this offseason. Silfverberg is the only UFA forward, their D core is locked up, and they'll need to either resign Miller or replace him. Without Silfverberg and Miller, they'll have $13-ish mil if the cap jumps to $85. Even if it's only $10-11 at $83, that's still some serious wiggle room to improve this team.
They've also drafted quite well under Murray. Steel, Larsson, Comtois, Terry, Mahura, etc. were all taken after the 27th overall pick, and they all look as though they've got some serious potential.
End of the day, taking Zaitsev's contract and the 5 years remaining will require sending an asset or pick (A late 2nd in 2020 doesn't move the needle), and I don't think there's a world where Murray trades Manson straight up for Kapanen.
He's certainly had his strengths, and in general I think has done more good than bad. He has traded pretty well and acquired talent excellently through the draft and European FA. However, I think he made a really big mistake in signing Carlyle, and at forwards made a big mistake signing Kesler in particular. The Getzlaf/Perry contracts I always felt expensive from day one, given their age, but Getzlaf is aging fine, Perry is not, which isn't all that unsurprising.
Regardless, he has made his bed, of a good goalie, a good young D corps, but a broken forward corps built around a past his prime, but still pretty good getzlaf and two huge boat anchors past their prime in Kesler/Perry. He has a great complimentary piece in Rackell, but unless he can play center, a guy of his skill isn't enough to build around. Henrique and Kase are fine, and Kase's contract is pretty good. But he needs high end forwards