My opinion: good consistent GMing + more playoff gp + avoiding injuries at key times (avoid bad-luck) . As there is not much separating a round 1 loss and a championship. Would anyone be surprised to see TOR, LAK, PIT, SJS, MTL, BOS, STL, NYI or even TBL on the cup this year? a bunch of those teams will lose in the first round, and none of them would be an unfit champion.
IMO there is nothing wrong with lots of deals or just a few deals, that's the outcome of a host of other factors.
I'll fully acknowledge I shouldn't have bottomed-out as much as I did considering the solid talent I started with. You learn through experience (and mistakes). You take for granted how easy it is replenish talent every year in a typical fantasy league. When you have a quality asset, you hang onto them or you make a team bleed in a trade if you give them up. With so much involved in this league you have to be open-minded and creative.
As a team working their way up...you want to make it a point to hang onto your 1st round picks. Not having mine for two years really held me back. Or if you're if a middle of the road/borderline playoff contender and you want to trade your 1st, don't bottom out after the fact. That was the biggest mistake I made.
My long-term goal is to build a sustainable roster much like much of the top teams in the league where you have the strong team and you have the depth of young players and prospects you can use as currency and/or plug them in case of injuries.
Honestly Scott, I think you are unfairly judged on your first couple of months here. Yes, you jumped the gun and made some bad moves early on, but I've like almost everything you have done since then.