I’ve been keeping an eye on Dallas.
They have problems.
I see the same type of smaller/secondary problems that most top 10 teams have when they are in a Cup window. Pavs had a great regular season but was a shell of himself in the playoffs. Dellandrea was healthy scratched in 13 of 19 playoff games. I don't think they'll have an issue moving Faksa if that is how they want to clear some cap as he plays an absurd shutdown role and is effective in that role. He is exactly the type of guy teams love to have if they can make the cap work.
Ultimately, most of the problems/decisions involve guys who quickly become secondary/expendable players in the playoffs.
They had 12 guys put up 5+ playoff points this year. 10 of them are under contract next season (Johnston, Heiskanen, Robertson, Benn, Seguin, Stankoven, Hintz, Dadonov, Lindell, Marchment). 1 is an RFA (Steel) and then Duchene is a UFA. Otter had a middling regular season, but was every bit the #1 guy they expected in the playoffs. He is under contract too.
Harley didn't have the playoff production to make the top 12 production list, but he played very well otherwise and logged big minutes. He is an RFA without arbitration rights who will certainly be back.
We'll see what they do about Duchene/Tanev/Suter, but they currently have $16.2M in cap space to fill 10 roster spots, so it isn't like they have no money. The prospect pool has thinned with the graduation of Stankoven/Johnston, but they still have a handful of intriguing prospects who can likely start contributing as cheap bottom of the lineup guys. Bourque is a near lock to be a cheap NHL forward next year. I expect one of the young D will get a shot as a bottom pair guy. They have some cheap internal options to allow them the space to extend/replace Duchene/Tanev.
I really don't see problems. I see a top 5 team returning the bulk of its core, which contains multiple young players who have plenty of room to keep improving. Almost all the cap/retiree casualties are guys who underperformed in the playoffs. They very well may not be the 113 point team they were this year, but they should comfortably make the playoffs and they still have all the ingredients of a contender.
Here are the lines from their last game, using question marks in place of guys who are no longer in the organization (including pending UFAs)
Robertson-Hintz-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Stankoven
Marchment-???-???
Bourque-Steel-Dadonov
Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-???
Suter-???
Otter
???
I see two damn good top 6 lines, a good 4th line, a damn good top pair, half of a damn good 2nd pair, and a legit starter. And they have $16M to replace a 3rd line that struggled in the playoffs, extend/replace Tanev, and fill in the rest. I'd wager that Bourque will get a nice long audition as one of those top 9 forward question marks.
I don't really see a problem. A couple hard decisions that can impact the future, but not problems.