I say keep Pavelec for next year so we suck, then hopefully get Connor McDavid. Then the next year Hellebuyck takes his place. We either trade Pavelec, or we wave him around the deadline.
So then we can be stuck with his cap hit? Nobody is trading anything for Pavelec. We couldn't get a 7th rounder for him. Devan Dubnyk is in the ECHL now, and his numbers were better than Pavs' this season. That should tell you something. His value is 0. You want to tank for McDavid? Ok, Trade Kane to Florida for this year's 1st, buy out Pavelec this summer
(I'm pretty sure you aren't aware of this, but this is the LAST AND ONLY time players can be bought out without keeping the cap hit) and let Hellebuyck and Hutchinson know that there's no pressure on them to win games this year, just to do what they can do and put what their coaches teach them into practice.
Personally, I don't want to tank this year or any other year. Plenty of teams have won plenty of cups without a 1st overall pick. Plenty of teams have failed to win cups with plenty of 1st overalls. I want to see our system gradually and continuously get deeper and deeper so we can make trades to improve without tearing our team apart and so we can achieve consistent, on-going success on the ice.