I'm curious if Weal doesn't come back if Hextall will take a run at his boy Justin Williams? In that scenario I think it would sense for both parties given everything there.
Would be pretty great to not have Filppula and have Weal and Williams in the top 9, no other changes. Putting Williams next to Patrick would be a helluva way to start his pro career.
Doing the math, if the Flyers traded Read, didn't sign Weal, and signed Williams to $3.5 mil (he's coming off a $3.25 mil contract, previously a $3.8 mil one....but he's just getting older).....signed a JAG for ~750k to be the 23rd forward, Laughton press box and Patrick on the roster, Hagg and Morin up, goalie signed for $4 mil (might be high depending, but I'm hoping we aren't dumpster diving).......cap space is 725k. I'm not sure about bonuses though, but that's pretty tight. Flip and Lehtera and MacDonald cost so ****ing much. Just one not being there, even eating some salary, and the cap space is not an issue.
Of course, just signing Weal would leave close to $2.75-3 mil in cap space. Wouldn't rule out Hextall offloading both Raffl and Read either. Would he just have Laughton not play? But it's all pretty workable.