Do not rush things

Take advantage of the Leafs' cap situation for some picks. Mrazek can't play worse than how he played last year and knowing the Leafs' luck he's probably gonna have a bounceback season. Anyway, the salary cap won't be an issue and when his contract is up, Cossa will be 21.

You don't really have a choice but to trade Mrazek out of town. 2 years left on the deal is the reason I added a 5th.

Future Considerations or a 7th who really cares.

The plan is to let more kids play, I have no use for Oesterle.

Red Wings need to stay above the cap floor. I am taking on a cap dump. I thought about JVR but I went with Monahan since the Flames are desperate for any money they can find AND the sweetener to take the cap dump has a higher value.

My goal is to make every 2023 RFA/UFA play next year but not every forward will lock their roster spot by playing to the level they should play. There will be healthy scratches and there will be injuries that will allow Monahan to see ice time THAT'S IF he recovers. He could also possibly just stay on LTIR without taking time away from the young RFAs.

Anyway, there is only 1 year remaining on his contract and at no point, the Red Wings will have salary cap issues.

You may have 27M available. But you have to re-sign 3 of your best scorers AND you also have to fill your roster since you only have 12 roster players signed (excluding Monahan).

Every. Penny. Matters.

Even if you decide to give on one of the top 3 FAs

And for a team that still believes that it can contend, the picks have lesser importance to them than the money (especially a 2024 pick).