FORWARDS:
Alexandre Burrows($4.500m)/Henrik Sedin($7.000m)/Nicklas Jensen($0.863m)
Daniel Sedin($7.000m)/Paul Stastny($6.000m)/Ryan Kesler($5.000m)
Chris Higgins($2.500m)/Mike Santorelli($2.000m)/Zack Kassian($1.500m)
Shawn Matthias($1.750m)/Brad Richardson($1.150m)/Jannik Hansen($2.500m)
Tom Sestito($0.750m)
DEFENSEMEN:
Alexander Edler($5.000m)/Chris Tanev($4.200m)
Dan Hamhuis($4.500m)/Jason Garrison($4.600m)
Ryan Stanton($0.550m)/ Kevin Bieksa($4.600m)
GOALTENDERS:
Eddie Lack($1.150m)
Brian Elliott($1.800m)
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BUYOUTS:
David Booth ($0.000m)
BURIED:
Jacob Markstrom ($0.275m)
RETAINED SALARIES: (1.13% of upper limit)
Roberto Luongo ($0.800m—15.00%)
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SALARY CAP: $71,100,000; CAP PAYROLL: $70,988,333; BONUSES: $0
CAP SPACE (21-man roster): $1,111,667
Stastny will be a UFA and it is questionable whether the AVs will pay him and O'reilly. We can offer him 2nd line ice time with top end wingers. Getting him adds to our top 6 and our center depth, while also allowing a Kesler trade mid-season if things aren't working out.
Santorelli is signed on a multi-year deal(3 years). He was a revelation last year and he wants to be here, while wanting some security. It is a bit much for his history but this is likely to be a steal moving forward. He becomes the 3rd line center/utility forward.
Tanev is re-signed for 5 years, 4.2 million. Canucks want term and Tanev gets a high dollar amount as an RFA.
Jensen competes with Kassian for first line minutes, while Hansen acts as an elite 4th liner and a constant icetime threat to the young RWs.
I'd let Horvat spend another year marinating. Shinkaruk, Gaunce, Fox, Corrado, Grenier all play in the AHL and are potential depth call-ups.
We've had a bad bad year this year. I don't think the team is as bad as they've played and many players will rebound. I think the biggest problem has been a lack of top 6 depth, forcing 3rd line caliber offensive players into scoring roles (Higgins, Hansen) and marginal bottom 6ers into featured top 9 roles (Schroeder, Sestito, Booth, Richardson - though he is a great defensive forward/PKer). This was compounded by a depleted farm.
I used the off-season to fix that problem (Stastny frees Kesler up offensively and Jensen adds a young top 6er while Kassian likely takes another step as a potential top 6er). The third is made up of 3 players who don't look entirely out of place on the second and the 4th has 3rd line quality players.
I'm not a fan of Tortorella's system at all (actually like the guy himself a lot) but I think he gets the start of next year at least. He needs to take advantage of the depth we will likely have next year instead of grinding the Sedins and Kesler with big minutes all season. The Sedins are split because I think in this system, you need speed on every line to exit the defensive zone or establish the forecheck.
I don't think we need to trade Kesler or Edler for futures. We need to add youth to what we have and develop them in a winning environment. After jump-starting that with last year's draft and this year's high pick (I see 8 high level guys with Fabbri pushing to be a 9th, I hope we get one), I think we can focus on contention while developing what we have and keeping our futures.
Bottoming out is not something you strive to create as a GM. Sometimes it just happens, and it is a long way back up from the bottom. We are in position to be a consistent playoff team while adding young talent over the next few years. You don't have to hit bottom to rebound in the right direction.