Agree. I just thought you were saying he wouldn't get paid if he went the LTIR route.
As far as Jensen/Ouellet, I can see Holland making one of them expendable if he thinks he can fit more than one UFA dman that he would view as an upgrade... And in reality a whole lot of the dmen on the UFA market would be an upgrade over Jensen/Ouellet.
A couple of *affordable* PMDs on short term (1-3 year) deals wouldn't hurt, especially if they won't look out of place in a top 4 role. It's crazy to think that once Green is gone, Daley is the best dman among a group of guys that with a good team would either be spare parts or in the AHL....
I think they'll be expendable in the sense that he'll expose them to waivers next fall, and then try to pack GR.
Yeah, next year's blueline looks rough. It needs help, but I also want to see the possibility of a guy like Hronek or Cholo (or Sulak) start with the club. I expect it to go the route you're outlining, though. We'll sign a UFA or two who won't make a big difference -someone like Daley, it'll push the kids back into the minors/college/juniors because we don't want them riding the bench or anything and we'll wait for injuries to sort it all out.
Ideally, the guys we have signed right now would be better and allow us to leave that spot or two open to push kids into but it is what it is.