I couldn't imagine worrying about the salary cap in THREE years. Look at the Devils team from three years ago vs now. Teams change so much over that timeframe..
While money is more easily moved than most fans care to admit, Devils will have a lot of their core locked up to term and high dollar; thatll be harder to navigate around then just a few select, high-paid players
Both Hughes, Hischier, Bratt, Meier, Nemec, and id go as far as to include Mercer - these guys arent going anywhere. Pesce will also be here a minimum of three years and Dougie two
Palat will be gone next year and maybe one of Dillon or Siegenthaler, if they want extra room to make a play for someone.
Plus if they ever need to pay for a goalie (if none of the kids work out)
That leaves a large sum of space but when you account for the pay Nemec and Luke will get, it wont be as much as wed like
Cap will probably rise 12-15mil in that timeframe but salaries will have risen quite a bit as well, as we get more record-setting deals.
I dont think we should be
concerned about the cap in three years - but being
careful about it could go a long way towards our continued success at or near the top
(especially since it looks like we will be depending on a very select few internal options for the middle-6 in three years; may need to go UFAs or acquired RFAs)