Joined: May 2017
Posts: 517
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Unless something has been confirmed about the cap next year and I missed it, I would say that's a very low estimate. If the cap goes up by $1m more than you're projecting, and we don't do whatever that horrid Montreal trade is, then we have almost $5m to sign Sergachev, which we would almost definitely do. Cernak probably gets more than that, but honestly, just don't keep an extra defenseman on the roster and give that salary to Cernak and that's probably enough. The Cirelli deal also isn't that great for us. He brings defensive responsibility to the team beyond anything else, and that's what pays least in the League. Long-term, $4.75 is an underpayment, but for a bridge, it's probably a bit more than what the organization is hoping.
The difficult part of this is that the Lightning want to keep Killorn too given the season he's having. And I'm sure they want to get rid of Gourde, Johnson, or Palat (and probably mainly Gourde if he never scores again) instead. But if we have to move Killorn, we'd get a decent return and we'd more than likely be able to re-sign everyone else (other than Shattenkirk).