I just wonder if David Poile will really give up that easily. I will basically believe he trades players with term left when I see it. Now, the impending-UFAs like Granlund, Haula... by all means, this is going to be a lost year and he might as well get whatever he can for them.
But I still don't see him doing what other teams think of as a rebuild/retool and trade off players with even a year of term left like Ekholm, because Poile in his head is just going to think the Preds will magically snap out of it and be competitive next season.
But if there are financial benefits that add on top of that, maybe he'll get a different directive. Even saving half the salary this year on some players might help cushion the massive losses the team might be expecting, so maybe in a lost year, ownership would rather pile on all the cushions they can, and direct Poile accordingly.