You are still over the cap. You are 3 players short. 1 at league min puts you over.

Someone else will offer Stralman more money easy.

The only answer is moving Callahan by giving assets w his contract. Can be prospect/ picks. It's only for one year and he remains a decent fourth line player, just overpaid at this time in his career. I like Stralman but he will sign elsewhere for more money and years. The only other move would be to trade Miller or Gourde, all other contracts are protected.

As we seen in the past with other teams.....when teams get "too good" or have to many high end contracts, some high priced player will have to be traded. No team should ever expect to be able to sign their UFAs, because, they really aren't property of that team anymore.

Someone will offer Stralman more, and Point will make more than that if its an 8 year deal

I'm thinking the same way you are. I think your offer Point is in the right ballpark of what will happen. Maybe more, maybe less, we don't know but I think its a great guess. Also agree on Callahan. I would kill 2 birds with one stone. I would trade one of my top 6 forwards that make $4-6M per yr and possible throw in a RFA rights to Erne OR Paquette (not both) to sweeten the deal to Take on Callahan's contract. I don't think we can resign both RFA's so that is why I would throw one in. (I made a previous team/post about a callahan trade/buyout/resign him cheaper options too.) With Johnson, Palat, Killorn, & Gourde all having NTC... Miller is the odd man out with a modified NTC so he goes to trade Cally is my guess. That frees up over $10M. On straws, I agree we should resign him but I don't we can that cheap. He's 32, I don't like the idea of having over 35 yrs old dman but I think offering him a 3-4 yr deal gets it done for him. Example a $3M x 3yrs gives Strals $9m to stay on a great team he likes and I think he would sign that. Cernak covers the lose of Girardi. Foote might be ready for the NHL next yr too. He is tearing it up lately (3 goals in 2 games.) If Foote isn't ready, than Serg can cover the right sode again and Koekkoek covers the lose of Coburn. Anyways... great post. I am right with your thinking, we will see what JBB does

Will Point really ask for more? Why would he? He’s on a young team with a deep prospect pool and they are currently on track for 60+ wins. Where else would he want to sign? Toronto can’t afford him, Winnipeg can’t afford him, Nashville can’t afford him, and most top teams can’t take on 8+ right now without moving pieces. I could see Point taking less. He’s playing with elite 80-110 point players on stacked team that will be good for a long time. When his 8 year deal comes up, if Tampa is on the fall, he can sign elsewhere. And don’t forget that Nylander had to bargain for months on end to reach 7 million and Toronto isn’t Tampa yet and Nylander cares more about money than Point. Stralman will want more, but it’s the same but a different situation. It’s late in his career, and if he wants a cup he’ll take a discount to play with a contender. That has happened year after year. Players take way less at the end of their career. I do agree that Miller or Callahan should be trade. Miller can easily be replaced by Volkov, Raddysh, Barre-Boulet, Stephens, or Katchouk. Somebody will not mind taking on Callahan’s contract for one year to get a third or fourth round pick, and Miller can be moved to get a one year rental on the right D side and prospects/picks. The following years, Killorn, Johnson, and Palat can be dealt with their NTCs becoming more open. Tampa is a future team, not a win now. But I do agree that a trade involving Miller or Callahan is inevitable.

Its not that Point doesn't want to sign in Tampa, it's just that he's been an absolute beast this season. If you look at his stats it's ridiculous how good he's been. 8.5 million x 8 years would be taking a big discount in my opinion. In a league where Matthews may make 12 million next year, isn't point worth at least 10 million? I do believe he'll take a discount to stay there though, but we'll see

I think if we buy out Callahan then Killorn becomes the prime trade candidate

Don’t get me wrong, Point deserves an 8 figure salary. But he’ll definitely take a discount to play for Tampa. Stamkos took 8.5 as a 40 goal 80-90 point scorer when he could have taken at least 10. Kucherov took 9.5 when he could have got 12+ on the open market as a 100 point guy. Point will take 7.75-8 especially because he knows that cap crunch that Tampa will be in. Why wouldn’t you take a big discount to play for a President trophy team?

His NTC will make it hard. Though I’d want him to be the first big contract moved after Callahan. That’s why Miller is so attractive. He doesn’t have any sort of NMC and is still a valuable piece to other teams that could get a solid return.

I agree that he'll take a big discount, but I just think with the cap going up, and his point and goal totals this season, he'll get more than 8 million. Point is on pace for 47 goals and 106 points. And the cap is going up to around 83 million next season. He's as valuable and skilled as Kucherov is, so in my opinion I think 9.5 million is what he'd accept if he was taking the same discount as Kuch. Or maybe Tampa tries to bridge him like they did with Kuch, 6 million for 3 years?

The key difference is that Kuch’s contract was his “big” contract, or his first UFA/post-bridge deal. Point’s contract is a post-ELC, which is always less. RFA contracts are always less than open market deals. And extensions are early UFA contracts. Which is why players like to hit the open market in the 27-30 age range when they can command a much bigger contract.

Kuch was still an RFA after that last deal, you know that right? He did have arbitration rights, but he was still an RFA. I get what you're saying, I do, but the League is transitioning towards huge contracts right off ELCs. McDavid at 12.5 Eichel at 10, Ekblad at 7.5. 10 years ago guys didn't get their massive contract until they were older and had "earned it", but now they seem to get them right after their ELC. If Eichel was worth 10 million 2 years ago when he signed, Point has got to be worth at least that much. Centers come at a premium price. I could see them getting him to take a big discount at 9 million over 8 years, or maybe they go for a 6 year deal at 7.5 million. Just my personal opinion though, not trying to start anything. I absolutely understand where you're coming from

The league is trending that way, Kuch wasn’t going to be a UFA, but it was a post-bridge contract. And he wasn’t 22. McDavid was playing for a bad team, and so was Eichel. Had they been on a cup contender, things would be different. Ekblad was also in that situation. They were also franchise pieces. Now Point is too, but they already have Kuch, Stammer, Hedman, and Vasilevskiy. Point won’t be their main piece to build around. He still deserves the same, and he should be a no. 1 piece on most teams, but still, he’s not the big media guy, and he doesn’t get as much attention. Still, Point should be getting 10 million. But I’ll wager that he’ll take close to 8. 8-9 isn’t a big difference, so this is just a matter of opinion. We’ll see what he wants come summer of next year. Whether or not Tampa wins the cup should play a role too. Regardless, they’ll pay what it takes to keep him, and moving Miller+Callahan should give them the room they need.