Looking at Pionk’s contract, DeAngelo will get 3mil +
3.25 is likely.
Lemiux will also get slightly more
The moves you made (Namestnikov trade, Smith buyout, and burying Beleskey) were good. But more will have to be done unfortunately.

Going into this, you need to think about the performance bonuses. Those are counted towards the cap but its a soft count because whatever isn't spent in one year (or in this case, how much is not given out) will carry over into the next year. All performance bonuses have to be paid within the contract.

Pionk had arbitration rights and DeAngelo doesn't... EvolvingWild has him coming in around 2.3 on a 2 year deal

My bad. They reached a deal before the arbitration date so since it was not decided by an arbitrator I never looked into it and assumed this was the arbitrator’s decision.
DeAngelo will certainly raise his demands and make it a little tougher after Pionk’s contract, although he won’t have that power to make demands.

No way all 5.7mil of that gets paid out, we would have to have all three calder candidates on our team basically. Next year we're gonna have a ton of space too so a little bit of overage wouldn't kill them

Pionk had arbitration rights and DeAngelo doesn't... EvolvingWild has him coming in around 2.3 on a 2 year deal



No way all 5.7mil of that gets paid out, we would have to have all three calder candidates on our team basically. Next year we're gonna have a ton of space too so a little bit of overage wouldn't kill them

I wasn’t aware of Pionk having filed for arbitration and having rights to do so.
I think DeAngelo could still raise his demands and hold out if he really wants the money. I doubt he will and it would be pointless for him anyway.