Sorry guys but that Toronto trade isnt happening, cup contenders dont take on cap dumps

Your kapanen, ferland, and karlsson signing are a bit unrealistic. Each player will likely make more money. If kapanen is at $3 then I think Toronto keeps him - Ferland will easily land north of $4, maybe $5 (free agency is wild) - and Karlsson is not signing for less than his current contract.

Kapanen could end up in the $3-4 range coming off ELC, but he had 40 pts in one full NHL season (spending plenty of time with Matthews or Kadri), so a shorter term deal at $3 makes sense (to me anyway). If Kapanen was $3 or more and Johnsson could/should ask for around the same, then how is Marner fitting in with what he is looking for? Getting rid of Marleau and one of those two (or a Kadri/Brown) is only way to create space for Marner and Kapanen/Johnsson....no way they can keep everyone.

Ferland might be a bit low, but his current cap hit is $1.75 and he put up back to back 40 pt seasons playing on lines with Gaudreau and/or Monahan and then with Aho and/or Teravainen a lot of the time. I think he'd say yes to doubling his salary to play on another contending team (could bump to $4 if need be) - Matt Beleskey should be a cautionary tale of over paying a power forward that put up pts because of his linemates...but I think Ferland brings more than Beleskey before BOS signed him and then bought him out.

You're probably right on Karlsson, but his current hit is $5.25 so slight bump up, but basically the same hit and locked in long term (5 yr). Bumping it up to $6 would be fine as that is probably the range ($6-6.5) Avs would have been/are looking at offering Hayes (assuming he doesn't sign in PHI)

I agree, but if they are able to get a secondary scoring asset that can help now (like a Kapanen/Johnsson/Kadri/etc) then should be an ave to at least explore (especially if they don't have to give up any top 9 roster players to do so).

I don't think any of your reasoning is wrong right here. I agree with nearly everything you say - but free agency is a wild animal. Someone is going to regret spending a lot on Ferland. And Karlsson will be at least $6.5 I think, otherwise I think Vegas would try to keep him. And for Kapanen, I agree he's really worth around $2.6-3.5 right now, but could see him making higher demands. Basically I just think it will cost an extra $2-4 to sign those 3 players.

Yes, this offseason could end up being very crazy depending on how the dominoes fall. I like Ferland but hope the Avs aren't the team that overpays him. League-wide there are a few big time RFAs, a few big time UFAs, a draft with first rd deep with F......PHI makes first move to try to lock up Hayes, interested to see how every unfolds