Yeah ... I fail to see how the group we have under contract now is any worse than last year's roster. Mostly because it's virtually the same. I'm not saying they've gotten better but they certainly haven't gotten any worse. And I think anybody who follows this team will acknowledge that last year's group under-achieved rather dramatically. It's completely reasonable to expect more from the likes of the Staals, Semin, etc.
Not defending anybody here, but as we've established ... with VERY little available budget to work with, I'm not sure what anybody wants right now. Bulking up the fourth line and adding some depth on D is still something you can do. The first two days of free agency didn't take that off the table, and there's still a good chance of some bargains once all the shaking out gets done on the teams with Cap issues.