Roster room is not an issue on a bottom five team.
Gallagher has a full no-move clause, but it does not include press box protection. He has a big incentive to earn his playing time for his pride. Good for him if he is successful, but he is not guaranteed one of the 12 starting forward spots, just a spot on the 23-man squad.
As far as I am concerned, here are the ONLY players guaranteed a spot in the top-12F:
- Suzuki
- Caufield
- Slafkovsky
- Dach
- Newhook
- Evans
Gallagher is a lock for one of the remaining 8 places.
These players are competing for the 7 spots left (bottom 6 and 13th/14th F) in my order of preference:
- Armia (final year of contract)
- Roy (waiver-exempt)
- Anderson
- Dvorak (final year of contract)
- RHP (buriable)
- Pezzetta (buriable)
- Ylonen (buriable and also might not be qualified)
In my opinion we have room for 3 new starters replacing the bottom three with zero cap buried.
The three are:
- a clear top 6 forward who pushes Evans to the bottom six
- a 3C capable of being a 2C if necessary, ensuring Evans is on the 4th line
- another middle six winger capable of pushing Armia and Anderson down to the 4th line
If they are available for a fair contract as UFAs, or in a fair trade, the three new players could be players of the following calibre:
Roy with his smart game could complement Zegras and Dach who provide skill and a high level of skating ability.
Newhook could bring his speed to an amazing third line with Monahan and Toffoli. This would even be a good second line on most teams.
Evans and Armia would be accompanied on the fourth line and special teams by the better of Anderson or Dvorak, the loser joining Gally in the pressbox when there are no injuries. If Armia should happen to go AWOL again (I doubt it, though), there are capable NHL bodies to replace him. RHP eith his contract would probably survie waivers and be available in case of injuries, or be the last forward if one of the other bottom four can be traded.
The following year, there will be another three roster spots open to replace Evans, Armia, and Dvorak. After the necessay raises to Slaf, Guhle and Primeau, there would also be cap room for a strong new D if the three forward spots could be filled internally between:
- Beck
- Heineman
- Farrell
- Mesar
- Kapanen
- Tuch