I am more amenable to leveraging cap space with forwards than with D-men.
Having watched the D corp this year so far, in comparison to last year and watching SC playoffs closely each year, I would NOT count on developing d-men fast enough or often enough to cover the supposed window. I'm not sold on Jiricek. We have not seen Mateychuk in an NHL game yet though most of the veteran posters here think he is a sure thing. Cuelmans/Svozil have been unimpressive in their development (particularly Cuelmans). Elick is too early to tell anything. So I'd rather keep someone like the current Provorov (this season's version) than trade him for assets. Provorov may be costly - but if he maintains current level of play, he'd be worth it. Many want to credit Provorov's vastly improved play to playing with Z - and yet on the other hand, Z is playing out of his mind, perhaps in part because he has a reliable partner in Provorov? It works both ways. I like what we see from Christiansen, not sure about Severson and that contract for the window. I'd hate to dump Provorov (assuming he continues at current trajectory) because we have the Severson contract (thank you JK and your move aimed to possibly save your job). Harris scares me, especially paired with JJ (which will change after this year to ____).
So if you dump a dman like Provorov, on the backend CBJ would have a stud in Z, a presumed stud in Mateychuk, a Severson contract that may not age well, and what else? That would not bode well for making the playoffs, let alone making a run. I'd much rather retainp D-men whom are in their prime (Provorov is 27) and have many prime years lefts, and who are playing well rather than trade them for assets to make more cap space. Sure, we could pick up a veteran D when we need it, but a) that veteran D's contract will be in the same ballpark as Provorov's new deal; and b) we already have that veteran D. Unless his contract demands are well beyond market, I'd prefer we re-sign Provorov due to position.