6. Trading Ryan O'Reilly

Remember that whole thing about Taylor Hall and if you trade a good young player you probably end up losing the trade so why would you trade one of your good young players unless you absolutely have to?

The Avalanche absolutely have to trade Ryan O'Reilly.

The situation for the Avalanche has long been a tricky one, pretty much entirely because they jerked him around so badly that he clearly didn't want to play there any more. Case in point: If someone would rather play for the Calgary Flames under Jay Feaster, you have an issue on your hands. So O'Reilly's two-year, $12 million deal that he signed with the Flames, but which was matched by Colorado, comes to and end in Summer 2016.

And no, he hasn't been that good this year, which is tanking his trade value. He hasn't been terrible but he also hasn't been one of the better young centers in this league. The Avs are reportedly now looking for a decent defenseman in exchange for him, and any team who's not in playoff contention — like, say, the Calgary Flames — might want to consider kicking the tires on getting a deal done for him. The possession numbers alone are always going to look bad under Patrick Roy, and he is still good in comparison with the rest of his club because it's still among the worst in the league. But a competent coach can probably figure out both that and the scoring issues pretty quickly. You'd think that the latter follows the former overall.

A player of this caliber doesn't hit the trade market all that often, and if Colorado hadn't created this toxic situation, it still wouldn't be happening. But they did, albeit under old leadership, and now the guy wants out.

There really ought to be a line around the block for this kid. And it's unfortunate for the Avs that it's come to this. But it has, and they've made their own bed. Lying in it can't be too comfortable at this point.

(Ed. Note: A previous version of the story indicated O'Reilly was a UFA next summer.)

5. Peter DeBoer

Well it's never nice to see someone get fired, and the situation in New Jersey was always going to become an untenable one.

The Devils, to put it nicely, haven't been good this year, but it's the first year under DeBoer in which that's been the case in terms of anything but the standings. Three straight years without the playoffs gets you fired, no question about it, but the fact that Lou Lamoriello didn't follow him out the door is madness.

DeBoer was providing diminishing returns, but boy, so was Lamoriello. Scott Gomez is the Devils' No. 1 center this year. This team sucks. And they're somehow 15th in cap obligations in the league.

Here's a list of overpaid Devils:

• Travis Zajac ($5.75 million through 2021, somehow!)

• 8,000-year-old Patrik Elias ($5.5 million this season and next)

• Mike Cammalleri ($5 million through 2019)

• Ryane Clowe's concussions ($4.85 million through 2018)

• Adam Henrique's Stanley Cup run ($4 million through 2019)

• The concept of Tuomo Ruutu but not what he actually does on the ice ($3.8 million this year and next)

• The Bruins' idea of Michael Ryder circa 2007 ($3.5 million)

• Dainius Zubrus on a 35-plus deal ($3.1 million)

• Bryce Salvador's career legacy ($3.167 million)

• Marek Zidlicky for some reason ($3 million)

• Ilya Kovalchuk's cap recapture ($250,000 until 2025)

That's a lot of money being spent on total garbage, and it's not like Lou's balancing that out with, like, good drafting or anything.

But Lamoriello gets to keep making decisions because he put together one of the great teams of all time like two decades ago. Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me because two decades ago Wayne Gretzky was the best player alive and you wouldn't want him on your first power play unit here at the end of 2014. Maybe that's just me.

And oh, those Lamoriello decisions! “If one coach can't make this team good, how about three?” Three coaches! One of whom has literally no experience as an NHL head coach, and another who was an horrific failure in Washington and whose guts every one of his players seems to have hated. Plus an old guy who saw the game blow by him when the salary cap was introduced? What could go wrong? Oh right: Everything.

Everything could go wrong. And really, it already has.

Story continues