Unfortunately the probability of performance bonus overage make some of this unlikely. Marino will get his and Kahun will get at least half if his play continues. Your scenario would still work if Johnson is bought out and if Gal has to take a 2-3 mill 1 year show me contract. You could understand his performance (or lack of) with a re-building MTL and ARZ teams but if he can't make hay with Sid or Geno, where are you at?

I agree with what you are saying but we will have to wait and see when everyone is healthy look at what Sid turned Guentzal into I think he can do the same for Alex but he will need time

As bad as it sounds, you almost hope he is a dud because it will REALLY cloud the situation next year.

Marino still has another year on his deal and I'm not sure why you say about "if kahun continues his play." He's been really good as of late. 15 points in 24 games. No way Galchenyuk signs for 2-3 million either, that'd be a real low-ball.

Well it can go either way with him

Performance bonuses on Marino and Kahun. The Pens will likely end up with around 1-1.5 mill left in cap space (this year) which will only cover around 1/2 to 2/3's of the 3.5-4 in performance bonuses potentially gained this year. The remaining amount carries over to next year reducing their available cap space. Gal has been pretty bad this year and not seemed to mesh with anyone so to pay him 4.5 x 4 would be one hell of a gamble. If you are gonna drop 4.5 on a player in question, save that money and make cheap on others to try and re-sign Schultz.

lets just clear this up.

1st you are asking Kahun to take a pay cut considering he's going to make roughly 3.5 million this year.
2nd, this team is going to have to trade Jugs this year, before the deadline, in order to be cap compliant. Otherwise cap is rolling into next year. Which leaves this whole thing a mess.
3rd Galchenyuk like Schultz will not be back. They simply don't have the cap space for it.
Here is the real question I have.
This team will need grit come the playoffs. We have already seen why. They got guys who will hit, but they need that big body guy who's willing to drop gloves and keep teams honest.
My question is this. Who are they going to bring in, because you KNOW gmjr will. OR, are they going to put Nikita on the roster. I'm just going to toss that out there are a possibility of where that might come from. Because he'll be more than happy to get his shot.

You guys still don't get it that Murray is not worth that kind of money. He is a mediocre goalie. They should trade him and he'll be someone else's problem.