So...let me get this straight...we dump one of our best defensive centers (Zajac), one of our best wingers (Palmieri), our best goalie prospect (Blackwood), one of our best young defensemen (Santini), roughly FIVE mid-to-high potential forward younger players (Zacha, McLeod, Bastian, Quenneville, Speers) all in one year? We are not in win-now mode at all, so tossing away most of our promising and prominent players is doing nothing but shooting us back to when we had no prospects worth talking about just for a few years of potential playoff races.

By the way, no way we drop Palms, Greene, AND a first rounder for a pending UFA who is not guaranteed to sign with us. That's a total waste of assets. I also don't think Vegas gives up Neal that easily considering where they are in the standings with him among their leading scorers. Finally, Bastian (totally unproven in the NHL and not a high-end prospect) and Lappin (a 25 year old with the stats of an AHL mainstay) aren't even worth a first round pick by itself, so I have no idea why Pittsburgh would send a first and a third for them.

All that work and I don't think we are better!
older yes, better? And you blew the cap space we had