You can fit him easily when you under pay him and haven’t resigned Ellis yet

And only have 21 guys on the roster

21 guys on the roster is a valid criticism, that’ll have to change. I don’t think 10.5 is underpayment especially when you consider income tax. 10.5 in Nashville is about 11.5 everywhere else in the US (aside from Dallas and the Florida teams) and about 12 in Canada. In regards to Ellis, the year after this a dman will probably need to be moved, but rinne’s 7 mil coming off the books will help. And you could run with this roster for a year (after addressing the roster size issue).

Forgot to add this is assuming the cap goes to 78 mil, if it goes to 80 they have an addition 2 mil this year and 9 mil next year to work with.

Making a player fit in for 1 year is easy. its the 2nd year and going forward that is tough.

Yeah I mean the issue most people don’t account for is an injury. What do you do if need to sign someone mid year? I know most gm’s like to leave a buffer for emergencies. Your best bet would be to trade Rinne this offseason then you make a legit run at JT. If he doesn’t resign with NYI I think he has to be looking at a top half team which is why I question MTL. I am of the mindset that until I hear he’s leaving I refuse to let myself dream of him on my team.