Yeah, I thought they may go this route but with Caleb. Maybe they do with MacDonald now.
Would mean Kiviranta or Kelly have to pass through waivers to start in the AHL though.
They'll still need to clear about $2.2M too with a 21 man roster, and I'm not sure it makes much practical difference between that and $3M. Girard and Manson still seem like the only options.
I think moving Wood is unlikely after signing him to six years, but when you factor in replacing him with a league min $775k guy, I don't think his $2.5M wouldn't clear enough anyway. Especially when teams like to leave a little cushion for callups.
Maybe there's something else I'm overlooking, but now that we know what the roster mostly will look like, the only options I see to get under the cap are starting the year with Gabe on LTIR, or trading one of Girard/Manson.