I fully expect CMac and Joe to go get Pat Kane if Naz is indeed gone. Get the Hawks to retain 50%, and another team to retain 25%, and you get a top-line, HOF RWer for $2.65M. If they include JTC in the deal, they would actually save about $875K in cap space in this case, which would leave them with $4.785M to add one or two more players that can play C, like say Paul Stastny and Evan Rodrigues, and then you can keep your D-core intact. It would also allow them to experiment with the 2C spot with a number of guys (Mikko, Hook, Staz, Rod, maybe even Landy) to see if they need to add a guy like JTM at the TDL (assuming he stays with the Nucks to start the season).
Landy/Mack/Kane
Nuke/Staz/Mikko
Lehk/Rod/Hook
Cogs/Helm/LOC
Malt
Toews/Makar
G/Manson
Bo/EJ
Dermy
George
Frank
I'm skeptical that we would be in on Patrick Kane unless it's at the trade deadline and we have banked enough cap space to be comfortable and it's clear that he's the best option available for what the team needs. Last TDL, we could have blown everything on Giroux, but instead we added Lehkonen, Manson, and Cogliano (and swapped Jost's salary for Sturm's). I don't see this front office blowing all of our cap flexibility for absorbing bonuses and TDL maneuvers acquiring an aging Patrick Kane in the off-season.
Speaking of bonuses, if Byram has a monster year, he could be owed $2,500,000 in bonuses, which would count against our cap next year as overages if we go over this year. Assuming Byram stays healthy, I think there's a very good chance that he'll hit all of his "
Schedule A" bonuses, which means I think there is a good chance that the Avs front office has Byram penciled in at $1.65M cap hit this year ($900k + $850k Schudule A bonuses), effectively reducing our current cap space to $2.9M. Depending on the amount of ice time Newhook gets (or if there are injuries in the top 6, etc.), he could hit a couple of his Schedule A bonuses too.
If we think that Byram's internal caphit figure is $1.65M, then we currently have a 21-man roster (with Myers and Sedlak in the forward group and MacDermid the only extra to cover both F and D) with only $2.9M of cap space. Adding a dedicated extra forward for a 22-man roster (whether Maltsev, another prospect, or free agent acquisition close to league minimum), puts us at $2M cap space. Obviously, if we sign a free agent for $2M or $3M for that 22nd roster slot, that's an extra $1M or $2M against the cap, and then there's a risk that a Schedule B bonus for Byram or any Schedule A bonuses for Newhook or Myers would count against next year's cap.
And, of course, if we decide to go with a 23-man roster because we're worried about losing some of our depth to waivers, then we're pretty much out of space for any acquisition unless there is money-in, money-out.
To me, this means that Kadri is probably not feasible unless we dump EJ's or Girard's salary without taking back more than $1-1.5M in NHL salary back.
