Our UFA's next year are Bolland, Kulemin, McClement, Raymond, Smith, Fraser, and Ranger. RFA's are Holland, Ashton, D'Amigo, Franson, Gardiner, and Reimer.
Out of the UFA's, I'd make it a priority to bring back Bolland and Kulemin. Smith, Fraser and Ranger are all replaceable, and while Raymond has performed admirably, I don't see a future here for him given our cap situation and his asking price for next season. McClement has just been okay this season, and his PK prowess that was so valuable last year has seemed to have disappeared. I'm not against re-signing him, but I wouldn't shed any tears if he left.
Of the RFA's, Holland and Gardiner need to come back. Holland has been impressive and I don't think Gardiner's done yet. I'd like to bring back Reimer, but who knows how he feels about the whole situation with Bernier and possibly going into next season as the back-up. Ashton isn't anything special. Bring him back for cheap if you can, but he's not needed. D'Amigo is the same (though I think he;s a better player than Ashton). I'd bring re-sign both at around the $1 million they're making now. And Franson can go. His offence doesn't make up for constant defensive blunders. He's going to be asking for money he doesn't deserve as well, and the contract negotiating headache isn't needed.
Fooling around on Capgeek, resigning priority (imo) RFA's and UFA's and adding Girardi, this is what I got ($71 million in capspace):
CAPGEEK.COM ARMCHAIR GM ROSTER
CapGeek Armchair GM Roster
FORWARDS
Joffrey Lupul ($5.250m) / Tyler Bozak ($4.200m) / Phil Kessel ($8.000m)
James Van Riemsdyk ($4.250m) / Nazem Kadri ($2.900m) / David Clarkson ($5.250m)
Josh Leivo ($0.793m) / Dave Bolland ($4.000m) / Nikolai Kulemin ($4.000m)
Frazer McLaren ($0.700m) / Peter Holland ($1.000m) / Colton Orr ($0.925m)
DEFENSEMEN
Dion Phaneuf ($7.000m) / Dan Girardi ($4.500m)
Morgan Rielly ($0.894m) / Carl Gunnarsson ($3.150m)
Jake Gardiner ($1.500m) / Tim Gleason ($4.000m)
Petter Granberg ($0.800m) / Stuart Percy ($0.863m)
GOALTENDERS
Jonathan Bernier ($2.900m)
James Reimer ($2.900m)
BUYOUTS
Mike Komisarek ($0.000m)
Mikhail Grabovski ($0.000m)
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CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $71,100,000; CAP PAYROLL: $69,775,000; BONUSES: $1,295,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $1,325,000
Up against the cap again, but with improved defence with the addition of Girardi, another year under the belt of Gardiner and Rielly (with hopefully more playoff experience) and the ability to add a stable presence on the second pairing in either Girardi or Gunnarsson. Solidified goaltending for another couple of years. Forwards remain relatively the same. Re-calling and Re-assigning will have to happen a lot, alternating guys like Percy and Granberg for young forwards like D'Amigo, Leivo and Ashton to play on the third and fourth lines. Hopefully D'Amigo and Ashton don't make much more than they currently are next season.