panthers will have the benefit of being a destination for cup chasing vets, guys that will sign for $1m like petry last summer or oel before that. they also have a recent history of reclamation projects, montour, bennett, kulikov, hawks even retained on seth jones. they also are willing to add years to contracts to get the money right for the player, like marchand last summer.
-the panda plan-
bob wants 40 million, 5x8
ufa gudas 1x3
ufa cousins 1x3
that uses up the 7m in cap, so more moves to clear cap for a backup goalie & 13th forward
rodrigues to somewhere could free up 3m and get him back to a middle 6 spot instead of 4th line, thats enough to resign tarasov in goal & greer for 4th line
if verhaeghe* was asked to waive his NMC for ottawa, then he probably gave zito a list of destinations. that could free up to $7m, depending on what the trade return is. they don't need to find a 1st line lw, just the right 3rd guy to play with reinhart & barkov. that could be boqvist or luostarinen. they probably have a couple guys in ahl ready to be play on the 4th line.
*the tweet only stated that the sens wanted him, not if he was asked to waive, but he may not see much powerplay time with barkov, reinhart, bennet, marchand, lundell, 2 tchuks, forsling & jones. mikkola could be another trade option to free up cap, balinskis could be ok with ekblad if 3rd pair is kulikov & gudas
full roster and up to 12m in cap, depending on trade returns for verhaeghe, rodrigues & mikkola
(disclaimer, i am not a panthers fan. and probably wrong about ufa targets & trade bait, but this was fun to think about)
