I've been banging this drum for weeks since the Panarin signing. Shattenkirk makes for a clean, single move that gives us cap compliance without forcing us to make a less than ideal trade with one of our other assets. We save 5.2m in cap space this year. Next year a Shattenkirk buyout has a big caphit of 6m, but between all of the forwards expiring and the Girardi buyout decreasing by 2.5m we will gain roughly 15m in cap space. We have 11 F and 7D+(whatever prospects we call up) under contract next year. The only extension we need to sign that wont be near league minimum would be Georgiev, and he would likely get a bridge deal 2-3m x 2 years a la Grubauer, Hellebuyck, Rittich. So that leaves around 11m to sign 2 forwards to fill out the roster, assuming no players are acquired via trade. Besides, if Shattenkirk is gonna be on the roster at the 7D then whats the difference if he is bought out or not?
All this commotion about Shattenkirk's big scary buyout hit next season is much ado about nothing. We will have more cap space than we know what to do with next year, we just need to make it through this offseason and buying out Shattenkirk is by far the simplest way to do so.