Good points you make. Before I started reading, I thought you would mention what it seems like the Flyers have done quite a bit of in the last 10 years or so... that is, overvaluing your own talent which leads to signing them to high-$, long-term contracts. This results in the worst of both worlds: a mediocre-or-worse team that is right up against the cap.
Tuch might be worse. Minnesota has been without a #1 center for a while. When Murray gave away Theodore, at least Anaheim still had Montour in the fold. The idiocy that followed in trading away Montour...