We may need to retain to make a deal work. Maybe there's even a deal where we a get a 3rd team to retain as well. I'm open to it if it means we can get a good return.
I assume Panarin won't want to go to any of the Canadian teams. I also assume he will want to go to a team with legitimate cup aspirations. Vegas could be a landing spot. They have 10 mil in cap space and no players of significance to re-sign other than Hague, and he won't get much of a bump.
Vegas already has 7 dmen under contract for next season and Hague is 6th on the team in TOI for dmen. Maybe we send them Soucy at half price along with Panarin and they send us Hague. We could also take back Roy to be our 3rd line center.
Panarin: 5,821,429
Soucy: 1,625,000
Roy: 3,000,000
Hague: RFA
Some combination of Holtz/Connelly/Picks
Another option might be Minnesota. They have 21 mil in cap space and Panarin might like the idea of playing with Kaprizov. Rossi could be part of the return, and they have some interesting prospects. Maybe we can get Buium.
All of this is probably moot, though. I don't really think Drury will trade him.