These are some of my ideas on how we should proceed in the summer. I don't think anything significant will happen this trade deadline with Edler's injury, so we're skipping ahead. The first trade would happen at or before the draft, the second trade could happen at any time and the third and fourth trades would happen when teams are re-signing their players.
Trade 1:
To COL: Sutter
To VAN: 2nd 2019 + 3rd 2019
Trade 2:
To FLA: Gudbranson + Gadjovich
To VAN: Heponiemi
Trade 3:
To TOR: Granlund + 2nd 2020
To VAN: Kapanen
Trade 4:
To WPG: Motte + 4th 2020
To VAN: Kulikov + 2nd 2020
The first trade is pretty simple; the Canucks offload a redundant but effective player and Avalanche improve their center depth behind MacKinnon. The second trade is based off the rumours that Florida wants to add some toughness and the lack of immediate space for another winger. The third trade is based on Toronto's impending cap crunch and offloading someone who's stuck on the 3rd line for a cheap replacement instead of just losing him to an offersheet. The 4th trade is us helping Winnipeg out with their cap struggles and upgrading our pick as a result.
RFA:
Boeser: 6 years, 7.25 million per
Hutton: 2 years, 3.25 million per
Kapanen: 2 years, 3.15 million per
Goldobin: 2 years, 2.215 million per
Leivo: 1 year, 1.65 million
Demko: 2 years, 1.215 million per
Hughes: ELC (if he hasn't already)
Heponiemi: ELC
Lockwood: ELC
UFA:
Karlsson: 7 years, 11 million per
Edler: 3 years, 6 million per
The biggest splash here is obviously Karlsson. I don't like big contracts, but he would obviously be an exception. Adding him, Hughes and losing Gudbranson makes our defense infinitely more dynamic. There's no guarantee that he's willing to sign here, but this is just a scenario. Everything else is pretty much as expected.
2019-20:
Baertschi - Horvat - Kapanen
Goldobin - Pettersson - Boeser
Roussel - Gaudette - Virtanen
Eriksson - Beagle - Leivo
MacEwan
Edler - Karlsson
Hughes - Tanev
Hutton - Stetcher
Kulikov, Biega
Markstrom
Demko
If the cap goes up around 3 million, this leaves us with almost 2 million in cap space. If the cap doesn't go up that much, then eliminate the Winnipeg trade.
Our biggest weakness, the blue line, is effectively turned over and upgraded in every sense. Edler - Karlsson makes a dynamic top pairing, Hughes get's a safe partner in Tanev to experiment in the NHL and Hutton - Stetcher are solid middle pairing defenders. We also give Horvat some more capable and permanent wingers, which should improve his game. We would have Juolevi, Heponiemi, Dahlen, Lind, Brisebois, McEneny and Sautner as young depth who could get stretches of games in the NHL.