I'm officially in full tank mode, so I do the following.
This Season:
Trade Vanek for a 2nd/1st at the deadline.
Trade Green for a 1st/ Prospect at the deadline. Retain a million or two if necessary
Trade Smith for a bag of peanuts or waive him when he is back.
Trade Ott for a pick if anyone wants him for additional grit in the playoffs
Trade Tatar or Nyquist for an equivalent dman. If no deals are there, try again before the expansion draft.
Expansion Draft
Keep: Zetterberg, Mantha, AA, Nielson, Tatar, Nyquist, Sheahan
NE: Larkin
Expose: Jurco, Helm, Abby, Frk, Glenny
*Do we need to protect Bert? if so expose Sheahan
Defense: Dekeyser, Marchenko, Sproul/XO (whichever looks better)
Expose: Kronwall, Ericsson, Sproul/XO
Goalie: Mrazek
Expose: Howard, Coreau
Then we pray that Vegas takes one of Abby, Helm, Kronwall, E or Howard. I chose not to expose Sheahan since he only has a year left on his contract, and he doesn't get paid too much atm. I think it is likely they take one of Abby, Helm, or Howard since there will be much better dmen available than Kronner & E. If we manage to add a dman and trade one of Tats or Nyquist then simply protect Glenny/Bert and expose one of Marchenko/Sproul/XO.
Offseason:
Assuming we trade one of Nyquist/ Tats for a dman prior to the expansion draft, and one of Abby or Helm are picked, I do the following:
1. Resign Tatar (if not traded) to around 4 mil per year (3 year max)
2. Encourage Kronwall to LTIR retire
3. Resign AA (1.5 x 2)
4. See if you can get someone to take Howard for two years @ 4mil.
5. Offer Vanek a 2 year deal at current rate or 1 year 4 mil deal.
Mantha-Larkin-Z
AA-Nielson-Tatar/Nyquist
Vanek/UFA-Helm-Frk
Bert-Glenny-Cally
Dekeyser- (Traded for Dman)
UFA-XO
Ericsson-Marchy
Mrazek
Coreau
This embraces the rebuild and helps clear out some cap space. Defense is still a mess, but hopefully we can land a good D or two in the draft, and capitalize on the glut of dmen that might be available due to the expansion draft.