Relevant to what I just posted here:
A bit of optimism, the 2015-16 Penguins
The best teams rely on cheap depth. That's the way it's always been.
With Horton on LTIR we're at $16.4 million. Zaitsev will definitely be gone, which frees up another $2-3 million. Let's call it $2.5 million (i.e., trade Zaitsev and find a $2 million replacement) so we're up to $18.9 million. Marner takes $10 million, leaving us with $8.9 million for four forwards, three defense, and a backup goalie if the team wants to carry 13F, 8D. Realistically that's unnecessary with the Marlies right down the road. Let's call it three forwards, two defense for a 12F, 7D roster.
Three of those players are most like Moore ($775,000), Rosen ($750,000), and Liljegren ($894,000). Sparks is likely back around $800,000. That leaves us at about $5.7 million for Kapanen and Johnsson before even considering that Brown can be replaced by a <$1 million player from the Marlies, We can probably go even cheaper on Zaitsev's replacement. That right there would give us some flexibility for carrying extras.
It's not the end of the world. Everything is going to be fine.