Trying to make it work with Willy staying

I think you are looking at it wrong. Its not hard to keep Matthews, Marner and Nylander. Its hard to keep all of the depth. Which isn't a huge issue when you have guys like Kadri, Andersen and Rielly locked up for the next while.

If you lose some depth wingers like Brown or Johnson and have to bring up a Marlie or two, that isn't really a problem. Connor Brown isn't the reason this team wins the cup, Nylander, Marner, Matthews and Tavares will carry the team wherever it goes.

Finally so truth. Matthews might a little more, nobody knows but it all looks very realistic, and yes defense will be a problem.

I think that depth plays a huge roll in winning a cup. Personally I'd rather have Kapanen, Johnsson and a legitimate top 4 right shot Dman than Nylander. But I definitely understand what you're saying and i do agree that they will need positive contributions from some Marlies moving forward. But that D needs help, especially someone to play with Rielly.

I figured he has to be less than McDavid but a little more than Tavares so 11.5 makes sense to me. Marner should be comparable to Eichel but I think he's the most likely to take some form of discount.

I cannot understand how people have Marner this high when Nylander is at 6.9. Marner is better, but not 2.5 million dollars better.
You can save another million to 1.5 million if you don't overpay Marner.

Also Matthews if he goes higher than JT will likely go to 11.34 to be cute with it, otherwise look for 11aav.