While I no longer advocate the extension of Adam Larsson, to discount the role he plays on this team is disingenuous at best: he is Edmonton's strongest defensive option on the blueline and eats a myriad of minutes. There's value in having him paired with Jones for this season: Edmonton's going to be running a very young blueline for the foreseeable future and maximizing how much Adam can pass onto guys like Jones and Bear before he leaves has value. If you trade Larsson, the structure of the blueline as a whole crumbles: you either end up with Bear playing 24+ minutes a night or Russell playing more than 16. I don't think he's by far the most optimal name Edmonton could be employing, but given that there's but a year left on his deal, he's far from being the primary issue this team had last year. A healthy Larsson is a legitimate top-4 option. The only caveat is that he needs to be healthy.

Burying Neal makes no sense at all, short or long-term. You only gain a hair over a million dollars in cap flexibility: fundamentally it makes more sense to bite the bullet on a buyout and take on more cap savings for success now despite the three extra years of his $2M buyout hit. You appear to have tried to find a middle ground, but only found an inferior option. The play is to pay another team to take (at minimum) 50% of his deal or buy him out. Maybe this season, maybe next, but burying him shouldn't be the primary option. Even Montreal saw the light in an Alzner buyout.

Bouchard doesn't need to be in the NHL this season. An extra year of development isn't hurting him.