So long as your bonuses don’t roll over, it’s going to be cap he’ll next season with shatty’s buyout.

Well I don't think it will be that bad there's no chance they resign Krieder for the 7x7 he apparently wants plus all their better elcs are still under contract for 1-2 years. They can probably afford to shop for 2nd line center and then fill out bottom 6 with usual cheap guys as they'll still have around 14-15M cap space

As Bluetomorrow stated Kreider won't be back, we have over 16 million coming off the cap next year
Kreider
Fast
Namestnikov
McKegg
Nieves (RFA)
Strome (RFA)
Georgiev (RFA)
and depending on the play of the 3 RFA's we may not see any of them back (Georgiev could very well be traded if he plays well, making room for Shestyerkin)
We have plenty of kids coming up, but the 2nd line center position would be something I hope we can fill with Chytil, Lias or Howden or via trade as I don't see us having the room long term to sign any UFAs since ELCs will start ending sooner than later

Don't forget to save some cap space for the Panarin buyout the blue shirts will be doing in 3 years

It will be difficult to stay competitive if you lose 6m in cap next season no matter how you slice it. Just imagine everyone else’s cap going up 2-3m and yours decreasing 3-4m. Things won’t get better as your RFA’s come up for renewal either. Having too many good players is a good problem to have though.

I don't think so, it will be difficult to make a splash in free agency next year, but lets compare dead cap space by year
The Rangers have about 5.4 million in dead cap space this season
They will have about 7.5 million in dead cap space next season
16 million coming off the cap next year, so about 8.5 million in cap space
I don't see Kreider being resigned, he will probably be traded for picks, prospects, maybe a roster player on an ELC. That means we have 8.5 to resign Georgiev (if not traded to make room for Shestyerkin) then we can see if guys like Fast, Strome, McKegg or Nieves are considered for returns, but other than Fast all seem unlikely unless breakout seasons.
Andersson, Chytil, Howden and Hajek don't need new contracts until 2021-2022, which at that point Spooner's buyout is gone, Shatty's buyout is 1.43 million and Girardi's is 1.11 million, so 2.54 in dead space, plus in 2021-22 Lundqvist, Staal and Smith all come off the books freeing up 18.7 million in cap space.
I don't like the Shatty buyout, I don't think subtracting an above average player while keeping two bad ones (Staal and Smith) is ever a good thing, but it does make sense with how few contracts we have in 2021-2022 and the amont of talent we should have ready to make the team at that point.

No it’s not bad, but if you happen to roll over 5m in pb’s next season (I know, not likely) it certainly hurts.