Pretty easy. Give each free agent $1M less and go with a 22 man roster.

Why are you spending $7 million on 3rd pairing defensemen?

That would solve about $13,000,000 of a $25,000,000 problem.

Because I didn't solve the problem.

Maybe closer to $15M. Trade Price for Crawford and their next two firsts, (as good as Price may be, Chicago will still suck!) then go real cheap on goalies for that '21-22 season

No way Domi gets 8m$ after this sub50 points season.
Juulsen is getting nowhere close to 5m$ after playing 44 games in 3 years (Getting a huge 8 points in that span)
Pretty sure Danault takes a hometown discount but that's just a feeling
Kotkaniemi at 6m$ playing 3C and racking up .35 pts/game?
Kinkaid isn't resigned (For fu*k sake he just went unclaimed on waivers why would we resign him?!
Weal and Folin are being replaced by rookies on ELCs.
Alzner is at least being burried if not bought back or traded.
Evans hasn't played a game in the league yet but you think he'll get 2m$?

After my maths your ''25m$ problem'' is in fact a -give or take -5m$ issue and that's not taking into account that Tatar and Petry won't be getting these paychecks (At least not here) and Lehkonen (if he keeps being defensively sound but can bury it in the offensive zone) is not getting 4m$ per year.

Surprisingly you're taking Evans, Juulsen and Teasdale in the line up but Romanov, Caufield, Brooks and maybe Ylonen/Norlinder are being forgotten... Why?

Why are you spending so much on these guys?

Don’t invent the problem and there is no reason to solve it.

I just used the guys with NHL experience + Teasdale was sitting at the bottom ... no point in signing guys with no GP and guessing their value in 2021.

Obviously some of the prospects will replace the vets though.

If you want to sign Domi for 5-8 years than it will probably cost close to $8,000,000 (72 + 50 point seasons while playing center costs that kind of money these days).
Skinner got $9,500,000 with a career high of 63 points ... while averaging 50 points over the past 5 seasons.
Hayes got $7,150,000 with a total of one 50 point season in 6 years (53 point career high / low 40's career average).

You're right about Juulsen ... but he could take a 1 year bridge deal and then play lights out next year.
Katkaniemi could also break out next year ... a lot of these contracts based on the assumption people continue improving next year.

If some of these young guys aren't earning contracts above $1,000,000 - 3,000,000 than the team will have bigger problems than the cap.
Anyone who strung together two 40+ points seasons was getting around $4,000,000 / year this summer.

Because someone else will ... so they more likely option is we lose them to free agency ... and bridge the RFA's and then lose them to free agency.

60-80 point forwards and top-3 defense don't cost $5,000,000 anymore ... they cost $7,000,000 - $9,000,000 (unless you sign them until their 40).

Sorry but there are two big reasons why your comps are pretty bad..
1:Yes Skinner got a big deal but out of his 63 points how many were goals? Yup he was a 40 goal scorer that year .. As for Hayes everyone know it's a bad signing so throwing him in the same pot doesn't make sense.
2: You're trying to compare two guys that were UFA at the time of signing to an RFA with arbitration rights.

Go check real comparables to Domi ffs; 20-28yo, 0.6-1ppg, outside of ELCs, between 20-30 goals.
What do you get?
-William Karlsson 5.25
-Bo Horvat 5.5
-RNH 6
-Zibanejad 5.35
-Dzingel 1.8
The only one that stands out is Kuznetsov at 7.8 but if you compare him to Domi you should just delete your account. (AND EVEN THERE HE AIN'T AT 8m$)

I don't know why everyone thinks Domi gets 8m$/yr, it's close to insanity.

Outside of Karlsson (1-year bridge ... when I clearly referenced Domi signing a 5-8 year deal) they all signed years ago and had much worse production than Domi ....

2013 = RNH (after 52 + 24 point seasons)
2017 = Dzingel (after 9 + 32 point seasons)
2017 = Horvat (after 25 + 40 + 52 point seasons)
2017 = Zibanejad (after 46 + 51 + 37 point seasons)

All of the above contracts should perfectly illustrate why Domi would get $8,000,000 on a 5-8 year deal after posting 72 points (as I said).

Do you see any seasons over 52 points up there? Any in the 60's? Any in the 70's?
Do you see any contracts signed after 2017? Any signed in 2018? Any in 2019?
Do you realize how much RFA contracts have blown up since 2017?

2019 = Hischier (after 52 + 47 point seasons) = $7,250,000 (Center)
2019 = Keller (after 65 + 47 point seasons) = $7,150,000
2019 = Connor (after 57 + 65 point seasons) = $7,150,000
2019 = Aho (after 49 + 65 + 83 point seasons) = $8,500,000 (Center)

Touché
Now do you sign the guy at 8m$, accept the picks from the offersheet or leave him hold out? Knowing that we get lots of center prospect coming (Maybe not top line but with Poehling, Zook, KK, McShane, Evans, Ikonen, Hillis and other I mean somebody's gonna be good enough out of this batch) and that the guy seems to be a little (lot) moody when he doesn't get to play with who he wants? Personnally I think I'd take the offersheet if there's one equal or more than 2 unprotected first rounder (Like Aho). Other option is to sign him a bridge, 2-3 years 5.5m$.

I doubt anyone would offer sheet him above $6,340,000 (the maximum AAV with a 1st + 3rd as compensation).
He's not a franchise player and he's only a year away from UFA status (so teams are better off signing slightly older UFA's and keeping their1st + 2nd + 3rd).

So I'd try to sign him with a shorter-term ... ideally something like $6,000,000 x 3-4 years (any lower would be tough to buy UFA years).
But I'd probably choose him long-term over some older guys who will cost a similar amount in 2 years (Gallagher + Tatar). How long will they stay productive?
You could also just trade him as an RFA ... or sign him then trade him.