Buy out window has closed. They don't have any players who filed for arbitration. They can put Duclair on IR and go with 21 skaters, but they'll have to find a solution before Duclair returns in JAN, and even before then any short term injuries kill them.
They will clear cap. It's just a matter of how well they do it and how bad it hurts.
RIght but when is the 2nd buyout window (I am assuming there is one but not 100%). Everything I've seen says the "first buyout window" closed July 12 but everything I've seen also implies there's a second buyout window, couldn't find anything about when that 2nd buyout window actually is incl capfriendly which has obsolete year old information for some reason.
Do you know when 2nd buyout window is? If so please include a source, very curious over here. My guess is it's right before the season starts (that would make sense) but I haven't seen anything to confirm (or not) either way.
100% agree FLA needs to find a better solution before Duke comes back in Jan or whenever he fully heals.
BUT, with context my point was that it's very different to say "must clear 10m+ of long term cap during offseason or not be able to sign your free agents" rather than "long term cap is mostly fine, must clear ~1.5m of cap this season before Duke comes back in Jan." One is desperate, one is not. The latter may not even require an outside move depending however many waivers exempt ELC ppl you have on your roster, or maybe it's a small move like waiving a 2-way tweener like Ryan Lomberg.
But yeah, they will likely need to clear cap sometime before January. I just don't think it's as much of a need as it was before the CGY trade, so I don't think we'll be able to bend them over in a trade like I previously thought before this CGY trade went down