Burying players doesn't save that much. 1.075m minus the cost of the replacement. 1.075m minus 900,000. or 175.000 per player

true, but on this very armchair GM before submitting I was able to do what I described to make the roster cap-compliant with 23 players on the roster. Rafferty saves 300k

Cernak pairs better with Hughes and Edler pairs way better and Schmidt, on paper at least.

Why is Loui still with the big club?
He will most likely (better) get sent to the AHL, even if it’s only for 1.075mil of space. It’s still more space then they would have with him sitting in the press box.

I didnt really focus on lineup details. This setup has enough flexibility to bring up a young guy eg lind or hoglander or even baertschi if he bounces back in training camp. Eriksson is still a useful bottom 6 utility player and burying him saves only ~200k to 300k of cap space when you account for the player that comes up to fill his spot. I don't really want them to bury him because it tanks whatever small value he has left to offset the tremendous negative value of his contract. Pumping his numbers during the season could make it easier to offload his contract next offseason