27.09mil in Cap Space June 30th:
There is a world in which Ehlers/Boeser, Geekie, Lohrei, and Joki are signed for a total of about 21mil, leaving 6mil left over for your third line winger and Minten/Farinacci/Kuntar (Lysell is included already). I would look to trade Peeke to bring you closer to 8.75mil. Korpi money out would be huge too, but even for our friend future considerations, I’m not sure who would take him. If Korpi and Peeke go in this scenario, you have ~11 to go for a better 2nd pairing RHD, better wingers, and use DePietro for backup goalie.
Some of have suggested trading Poitras, but he doesn’t change your cap hit if you’re bringing a bigger name in, meaning you likely can’t afford trade, so I’m not really into it…his potential feels Krecji-esque as a playmaker. He’s cheap, keep him for another year.
Zacha and Mittelstadt are the only next players whose protections or lack thereof can get a chunk of money out the door really. I think Zacha is hard to replace for the money so you would need to improve upon his position in the move. Mittelstadt I’m not entirely sold on given our cap crunched situation. Lindholm better deliver next year or he needs to waive his protections for the sake of his own legacy.
I think they will be modest and leave a couple mil left come Game 1 next October to see how a big signing on wing, signing RFA players, and cheap contracts play out. Would love to be surprised though, I don’t think Ehlers alone is going to do too much.