Please take a look at fan/board reactions to signings and trades

[Rakennusmestari]

The reactions seem quite illogical at times. As an example: after the first season as the GM of Florida I traded Dave Bolland away in return for a 2nd round pick. As is well known, he has a horrible contract and also had played really badly (av.rating 6.00), but despite that, I got a negative reaction for the trade. Then I proceeded to sign both Anze Kopitar and Steven Stamkos as free agents. One would expect fireworks and whatnot, right? No, absolutely no reaction from the board nor the fans. Then, to clear salary and to get rid of bad performers, I sent Bjugstad (av.rating of 6.47 last season) & Kampfer to Arizona in exchange for Connor Murphy (45 points, av.rating of 7.29), and there was rage..? Finally I sent Jussi Jokinen (salary a massive 4m and last season's rating 6.60) packaged with a 4th round pick to LA, getting a first rounder in exchange, Again, rage. And currently my job security is "very insecure".

So I added Steven Stamkos, Anze Kopitar and Connor Murphy, plus a 1st and 2nd round pick, and sent away Dave Bolland, Nick Bjugstad, Steven Kampfer, Jussi Jokinen and a 4th round pick. The new player's cap hits are in total 18,371m $, while the former player's combined hit was 14,212m $. I fail to see why I should be sacked for adding two world class players and two useful picks, while shedding bad contracts and players who really didn't perform.

[Javs1]

Seems the AI making bad trades isn't just me

[Riz Remes]

There are no specific board/fan reactions to signing players straight out of free agency iirc. Those transfers are not evaluated the same way as trades by the fans/board. But these are still on my list of things to tweak in the future.

[Javs1]

Seems a lot of the angry board reactions comes from trades where you get draft picks in return