this would just be the worst decisions ever

Explain..

Staal and Backes don't waive for Ottawa.

If so, everything still stays the same.. just 2 less 2nd's

I would say everyone you've acquired is a buyout candidate except to ehlers, and thachuk... and that's not enough for Calgary to not match, maybe if you gave up 4 1sts

If they haven't been bought out yet Idk if they will...
Calgary would be forced to move at the very least Brodie, probably plus someone else.
As much as it would be great to get Tkachuk, not getting him isn't the end of the world. We keep those 4 picks and call up another prospect to play top9.
Sure, they'd be significantly worse without Tkachuk, but without him there isn't a need to be good because they keep their next 2 1sts.

Okay, but your title is making the playoffs? Gardiner is good if you want a first round knockout, but Ottawa wont have the up front scoring ro make it seem like Gardiner is actually useful.

Backes and Staal will be terrible again unless some miracle happens. Ottawa's Best Shot his to remove Melnick and then take on bad contracts for first round picks then tie them in with all of your amazing young Talent

I rip Gardiner a lot but he's dragged a lot more than he deserves IMO. He's 1000% an upgrade over a lot of guys on the OTT blueline... he'd help.
I think this team could do more offensive damage than you think.. Adding Tkachuk, Ehlers, Batherson and Formenton upfront is a great start!
Backes and Staal are terrible and will be terrible! I agree! But they don't need to be anything at all, worst case scenario they get scratched and replaced with younger options which OTT has a ton of.
OTT def should get rid of Melynk I agree, but I doubt it happens.
Here I did take 2 bad contracts, if they wanted to acquire more bad contracts (I wouldn't go over 2 years unless it's a really sweet deal) they can opt to not sign Gards, move Anisimov for a pick and then use his cap savings to get another bad contract and pick

I thought we had agreed you're not getting thachuk, also you take on bad contracts but you only get a 2nd and a late 1st, batherson and Farmington could give you depth scoring but they could also not... I'm pretty sure I read that gardiners going to be buffalo's problem once they trade risto..

Gardiner can pass the puck I'll give him that, but Anaheim knew he didnt have hockey iq when they traded him, Toronto found that out for themselves year after year, but like I said his stats were inflated because they were so starved for defense in Toronto that he ended up playing with the big guys up front, collecting secondary assists. Guy cant play defense, which would be far more acceptable if he wasnt a defenseman.

i guess specifically it's the huge contract you're offering tkachuk.. not worth signing RFA's for that type of money.. Ottawa has some good young talent and a couple poor seasons will allow them to really build a strong young core, not worth forcing a playoff push now when they are at rock bottom. let them sit in the basement a few years while they sort everything out

The "huge contract" wouldn't hinder them at all IMO. They have 4 contracts on the books for 2021-2022. With the cap going up by roughly 2M per year until then, I think they'd be okay.
In terms of now forcing playoffs, I do agree they should mainly stay the course right now with the rebuild, did this more or less for fun.