Yup but some of that 6-7 million needs to go to Brendan Dillon, Pat Maroon and probably another depth/veteran F/D with leadership to deal with the spoiled brats that are Kane and Laine. Are they both still good hockey players? Kane looks like it, Laine I am not sure but both bring a lot of baggage, I would prefer to add just one of them and a Perron or Toffoli.
Before the total breakdown last year and having to go into player assistance program we are talking about a PPG player.
Now, let's assume the thing(s) that were breaking him down inside and physically were what he was recovering from all last year. He is now clear of that and is 26.
Look at the numbers he is putting up while dealing with those demons and physical ailments. Let's remove those from the player and put them into the Boston Culture (see Ullmark and his story while in Buffalo before coming to Boston).
A 56 in 56 and 52 in 55 on a BAD Columbus team.
Now he has asked to change his scenery and Columbus have agreed. We are seeing a 26 year old PPG player wanting to prove to everyone he can and will be elite.
You give him DeBrusk's money and say 'we are putting you with Lindholm and Pastrnak, you are learning from this culture what it means to be part of a team, you have an amazing D core behind you and one of the best goalies in the world in net. The time to buy-in is now.'
If he fails, you have him gone next season and the cap hit was only $5,000,000 the last year. If he fails, it's because of body or substance (taking in history) and he is LTIR or off the cap anyways.
If he succeeds, you just added a 40 goal scorer to the LW with Pastrnak. And you signed a defensively-minded C in Lindholm to work with those two like how he did with Gaudreau and Tkachuk in Calgary.