I don't think Hall will happen. If it does, it'll have to be for less due to the flat cap. You've shown it works when we dump some depth guys, but look at the following year: Byram, Kadri, and Francouz. I think they'll all command raises, and then there's Mack's deal the year after. It's just too tight with the way things could be for a couple of years

Byram's contract will slide unless he plays more than 9 games in this years playoffs, so he'll only be up in 2023. Same for Kaut.

As such the only significant contracts we have up in 2022 are Kadri, Francouz, and Bowers. Kadri will likely be allowed to walk in UFA and be replaced as 2C by Newhook, and that money can get put towards Bowers and Francouz.

Obviously we'd need a pretty significant retool in 2023, but there's nothing that's not manageable there. Johnson's $6m go straight to Mackinnon, and by then there should be enough cap rise to pay for some (if not most) of bridge deals for Byram and Kaut. Newhook's raise in 2024 is when we'll start to really feel a squeeze, but it would be a good problem to have if all of our prospects hit and need big contracts because that'll mean that we've been a winning team and that we can move someone for cheap young ELC talent to retool.

All-in-all, it definitely takes some manoeuvring to fit Hall in, but it's doable.

True, not trying to say it's not doable. I just think it puts us in a stressful spot cap-wise, and who knows what the hell's going to happen with all things covid? We obviously need to go for it in the next 2-3 years here with Mack's contract though.