To be clear, I wasn't trying to say that they had money set aside for Palmieri and Hagelin. I was saying that they had money set aside for Hagelin and the other RFAs(Rakell, Vatanen, and Lindholm), though it's obvious that some of that was expected to be accounted for with some sort of hockey trade involving one of their defensemen. I wasn't saying that it included Palmieri.
As for what players would be targeted in the expansion draft it comes down to this. Anaheim has six defensemen that come into this without any moves: Bieksa(who they have to protect or buyout - current smoke is around a buyout, they already asked him to waive his NMC), Fowler, Vatanen, Lindholm, Despres, and Manson. They also have to protect Getzlaf, Kesler, Perry, and Cogliano. It's also expected that to have any shot of contention that Rakell and Silfverberg are going to fit into that protection, too. Anaheim's greatest depth is on its blue line, with Theodore, Larsson, Montour, and further down in the system Wellinski and Petterssen. For forwards it was just Ritchie, though Sorensen sneaking on might give them some flexibility, but it's important to note that no one on the team was expecting him to be ready yet. Gibson is going to be protected. Bernier's contract is over at year's end and doesn't matter for this. So, out of what's likely to be exposed, the defense is going to offer the juiciest targets, particularly when you look around the league and see the coverage teams have. Finally, it's also clear that they weren't going to have the budget, even with expansion, to keep around the combination of Lindholm, Vatanen, and Fowler(at the end of his deal) - so it's clear that one of them would be going in the short term to maximize gains while slipping past losing one of those three in expansion. When you take a look at the Ducks priorities to remain competitive and where they can eat a loss, you end up with Anaheim likely shedding a defenseman. So the question comes down to which of Despres or Manson gets exposed to the expansion draft. Now, it's possible that they could protect Despres with that spot, but given that he was brought in to be paired with Fowler and Manson's is stronger with Lindholm, that seems really unlikely. Which means you'd have 4 million of salary coming off at year's end, provided he isn't moved before then. There really isn't another player that would be exposed that would be any more enticing. I don't see anyone really dying to pick up Boll or Wagner. I may have left something out there, but this is essentially what we've been working through on our boards, as I assume every other fan base is doing on theirs.
The owners have also stated that the team has already come close to profitability and that the expansion fees for Vegas are also putting a surge of cash into the coffers. Businesses and teams will operate at short term losses for long term gain. Tanking the team by taking scraps back for Fowler or someone else in a second trade doesn't really help the team's value, and rolling over budget for a month or two while a hockey trade is worked out isn't going to put the team out. This is an unusual year for every team. The normal rules are going to exist more as guidelines in the short term to make things work out to their best benefit in the long term with expansion.
As for the timing of Getzlaf, Kesler, and Perry's higher salaries, remember that Rakell and Lindholm's salary structures can be worked around that. It's entirely possible that you hit your budget marks even if you're slightly over in the first half of the season.
