Rushing the rebuild and acquiring a bunch of expensive veterans is the perfect way to make sure that you will have 0 cap space when it is time to sign Bedard

In this scenario more than 15 million dollars would be freed up at the end of the season.

The only way the cap becomes a real problem for the ducks if they add a 9M+ guy to Z and Terry and the cap has no significant rise before Bedard would be due a new contract. Otherwise with most of the vets coming off the books in staggered years they should be fine making the cap work for awhile.

If Bedard plays insane right out of the gate, he might demand the McDavid special or even more

If he’s the best player in the game he’ll get more but the cap will also be significantly higher. By the time Bedard’s ELC is up the cap should be around 100M.

Chychrun’s contract will be up in two seasons. You would need to give him a new deal and sign McTavish + Bedard to extensions in the span of two offseasons. That will probably cost upwards of $25 million to do. Possibly $30 million depending on how well Bedard/McTavish play. That is just too top heavy of a roster. Plus, you have Zellweger and Mintyukov, who look like future top-4 defensemen on the left side.

Unfortunately, adding Chychrun, Severson (who I wouldn’t sign to that deal, personally), and Bedard don’t make this team a legitimate contender. I’m not even sure if they’re good enough to make it out of the first round. I agree that they should attempt to put a decent team around the young guys, but they shouldn’t sacrifice future assets or cap space in order to do so. Just sign Soucy to a 3-4 year deal to pair with Drysdale + someone like Schenn or Holl to play the right side. Overhaul the bottom 6 (means getting rid of Silfverberg, Jones, Carrick, maybe Comtois) and let Dostal split time with Gibson. They probably don’t make the playoffs, but they’ll be competitive and in better shape for the next decade.

Too rich on the deals for Zegras and Drysdale. Drye gets a 2-3 year bridge due to his injury year, Zegras hasn't shown the maturity of a 9 mil player. Maybe in the 7-8 range.

Way too long for Severaon, make that a 5 year deal and it's maybe manageable. It's not a great year for UFAs wanting term.

There's a long term issue with top line LW once Henrique leaves, and Silfs contract also drops next season, if we need the space we can buy him out.

Lastly, Chychrun is not the need, we shouldn't trade for him. A guy like Graves is what we need.