You have a ton of cap space left over 👀

Yah I didn’t know what to use it on. If you have ideas please share.

Buying out Neal because no one's taking him for a 6th. Also, probably better to commit dollars to Demelo for ~4mil than Pysyk, who most recently has played RW. So -1.9mil from Neal's buyout and -1.5mil from upgrading Pysyk to DeMelo.

Someone will take Neal. New Jersey needs help on the PP, and I’m not asking for much. We can retain if needed. I like Pysyk and he is a Edmonton born player, he would be good on our team.

Overall I like it. Probably will have to retain about 2M on Neal though.

Neal with 2M retained could get moved to a team like Jersey. Demelo is better then Pysyk for sure but if Bouchard is ready, paying 4 M for a third pair D man is not reasonable

Nobody is taking Neal without a sweetener. You might get lucky and find a taker for Russell. Edmonton adds to the Nash and Tor deals

You're not paying 4mil for 3rd pairing RD, though. Bouchard first has to prove he's a capable top-4 D. Up until then, he can be an effective 3rd pairing guy that (hopefully) dominates the soft matchups. Limiting his minutes might also help keep his cap hit down 3 years down the line, too. Once he IS ready, then we can move one of our 3 legit top-4 RD but not before anything's proven. Pysyk doesn't provide the same luxury.

Sure, someone MIGHT take Neal but it'll require we give them something alongside him. No one's alleviating anyone else's cap burdens for free- especially not in the cap neutral world.

The Jets won't give up assets for a rental cap dump.

Extending Bear long term and getting someone better than Pysyk

I disagree. Maybe retain on Neal 2M or so, but we don’t have to add to the Toronto and Nashville trade. Maybe a bit onto the Nashville trade but not much.

1.5M after the signing bonus. If you want to make the playoffs you will need him. He’s good.

Nope, give Bear a one or two prove it deal to see how good he is to sign him long term. Pysyk is fine. He actually is good.

I don't think a 6/7 defenseman makes that much difference.

He’s a good bottom pairing defence man that is good at defence. You will need him. He would help a lot.

You want to get rid of Neal it will cost you a first... at least.

The most I will do is retain. Someone will take him, like New Jersey needs PP help Neal can help with that. Neals not as bad as everyone thinks.

There are tons of similar defenseman around as UFA's. There is no need to waste assets on one.

NJ doesn’t “need” PP help. They are still a rebuilding team and not going to take on a contract like that unless the assets are significant. I’d want Yamamoto or a first and a second to take 5.75 million For 3 years. I’d rather let a kids play the PP.

Hahaha. No thanks! New Jersey needs PP help, and he could teach the kids. Don’t you forget that they are rebuilding like you said, but they have a lot of cap space so they could use Neal with a retention. About 2M retention.

Ok then. Another team will take him then.

difference between needs and wants. Of course they could use Neal and I am not saying that he couldn’t help the team. I am saying that nobody is going to just help Edmonton and take a boat load of salary for peanuts. Marleau has a one year and returned a first. Neal has three years. Do we cash strap our team in a couple years for a sixth round pick when there would be other UfAs available? I think not.