Sorry it is 3 mil instead of 1 mil to sign at minimum 3 players.
And if you do your scenario of karlsson and boedker traded with kane at 6 mil. It then leaves 3 mil to sign at minimum 4 players.
And as has been my entire arguement this entire time is tavares is not worth 12 mil for a team that wants to compete. Because it destroys the offensive depth of the team.
The fact that the sharks would need to trade depth just to fit him in without just filling the team with min salary players is destroying the depth of the team.
I get it people are desperate for tge quick fix and tavares is the bright star at the other side of the fence. But killing the cap situation to get him is not smart hockey operations.
I disagree. You don't compete without a top center and Jumbo isn't cutting it anymore and the Sharks can't bet on any of Couture, Pavelski, or Hertl doing it when Tavares is potentially an option. And trading Boedker and Karlsson to help make him fit isn't destroying their depth. Boedker and Karlsson shouldn't be considered quality depth you'd look to retain. If you're talking about Tavares and Kane in this scenario without Thornton, next year's lineup looks like this with all those moves...
Kane-Tavares-Pavelski
Couture-Hertl-Labanc
Meier-Tierney-Donskoi
Sorensen-4C internal or external-Goodrow
extra
Vlasic-Braun
Ryan-Burns
Dillon-DeMelo/Heed
Jones and Dell
That's hardly killing the team's depth. And that setup gives three million to get that 4C and extra forward. That's plenty doable. If Thornton wants to stay here then he'll have to allow the team to be creative with the cap with a 1 mil salary and significant bonuses that could push his compensation up to another 3-5 million that would be allowed to go over the cap.