Yes, we might have a very strong right side, but our left defense is hands down the worst in the NHL. Butcher gets just over 13 minutes of 5v5 play per game, while most (if not all) top pairing Dmen play minimum 17 minutes at 5v5 per game. The difference is more than just 4 even strength minutes, especially when you look at the difficulty of minutes. His o-zone start % is 63%, which means that he is getting very sheltered that expose him to minimal risk compared to his other teammates on defense. The logical next step in Butcher's development is keeping him as 3rd pairing and giving him more unsheltered 5v5 minutes.

Jacob MacDonald has been very strong offensively for Binghamton this year, but he has not played a single NHL game. In fact, this is his first full AHL season after being stuck in the ECHL for a while. Also, I know that +/- is a flawed stat, but it can't be a good thing that he has the worst +/- on Binghamton. If he is even a little bit of a liability in the AHL, it would be exploited heavily in the NHL. He will likely spend next year in the AHL working on his defense and will be our first defensive call-up.

Yes, Andy Greene has been struggling. His struggles are coming from him getting 21 minutes of ice time per game, and they are the toughest 21 minutes a Dman could take. His minutes are all 5v5 and Short-Handed with over 60% of his zone starts being in the Dzone. He doesn't need to move to 3rd pairing, he just needs to be dropped to 2nd pair. Give Greene 19 minutes per game with slightly less difficult assignments (maybe 55% Dzone starts or below), and you will see a much different Andy Greene.

Lastly, Nashville will absolutely be able to re-sign Ellis. With his current $2.5 Mill cap hit, the Preds still have $3 Mill in space this year. Assuming the cap goes up at least $5 Mill over the next 2 years, they shouldn't have a problem re-signing him. Also, Nashville already has all their core players signed long-term, so Ellis is really the only one they have to worry about

People think Sevs would be overpaid as #3 d on right side and you blew that up with this new group!
I'd chase Hoffman b4 Patches, he's control and extra year, younger and similar scoring. Hoffman is quick, not sure if Max is. You could get Hoffman for less as well, maybe use these assets to get that LHD
If you can sign Carlson and make a move for a top LHD to move Greene down to 3 below new LHD and Butcher we would be good.
Kane is good but do we want that in the locker room?

I honestly completely forgot that the cap could be going up all the way to possibly 82MM next season, good catch