Fair enough, but locking up a PP producer who takes some of the physical offensive burden from Scheifele seems like a priority. . Or you have to trade for a similar role again to what Dubois's was on the PP. I'd think that renegotiation number starts with a 6 annually. Re-signing Samberg has to be a priority And that number to me has to be higher than Vlasic's contract in Chicago or Samuelsson's in Buffalo. If the Jets want to re-sign Ehlers that number is probably around $7 million AAV. That's probably $18 million used up without Perfetti signed or a proven capable top 4 d-man. Perfetti long term has to be in the 5s . Pionk is not likely replaced by Salomonsson in a year realistically. Especially in a top 4 shutdown role. I think you'd want him to beat out Miller for a job to maintain depth. So shop around for a top 4 d...prices do vary. Replacing existing role players through free agency agency hasn't panned out, so you need someone on the farm who can step up. None of the guys in the ranks of our top prospects have any significant experience killing penalties so that's work to be done in one year. The chances of re-signing Lowry goes up with capable linemates, so you have to be careful not to invest strictly top heavy.
I still think the bridge is best for both sides at this point. Gives GM room to manouver, by the end of the bridge KC might be gone, so there's an opportunity to put more money into a top player, that Perfetti hasn't arrived at yet. For Perfetti it's a chance to prove he is more valuable than past results.
I was only including UFA's in my calculation. If you include the raising cap and Snerg and Vailardi they will have $30 plus million to spend. So 12 million for Vilardi and Snerg leaves in around 20 million for whoever else. So much room that Chevy is likely not going to be able to spend it all given how well we do in FA.
Interesting you talk about pp performance. Cole outperformed pretty much everyone when he was on the top unit. I actually expect to see both Cole and Vilardi on that until going forward.