Quoting: jfkst1
Couture is an unmovable albatross contract. Hertl will soon be the same especially with their trade restrictions. Complete liabilities especially for a rebuilding team. I also noticed you conveniently ignored the Jones buyout.
Except for the fact that Hertl will still be a good player as the Sharks come out of their rebuild, Meanwhile Cooch will have 1 year left, or already be a UFA, and has no signing bonuses for the next 4 years so a buyout is very doable if need be. Sharks have a lot of cap space with these contracts so it's really not a big deal.
I didn't even think about Jones because it has such a small impact on the teams current state. Not a great contract, but you see those deals for goalies all over the place (Merzlikins, Murray, campbell, Binnington, Grubauer, Jarry, Korpisalo). In fact Jones had probably the best years leading up to the extension of all those guys except maybe Binnington. That's not a DW specific issue.
I'm not saying DW didn't have some bad deals, but to say he's a moron is well... moronic. Sharks have the most regular season wins and second most Playoff wins between 2003-2020 (DWs tenure). He did everything he could to get that tea a cup, it's not on him