Salary Cap: How will HuGo use our Cap Surplus Next Season?

[calder candidate]

With Drouin (5.5M), Dadonov (5M), Byron (3.4) and Monahan (6.375M) coming off the books next season and the cap rising around 1M to 83.5M it looks like Hughes and Gorton will have some cap room (21M) to weaponize. (Note: I'm assuming Price is done and remains on LTIR the rest of his career)

Guessing Caufield (7M), Pezzetta (900K), Richard (900k), and Harris (1.5M) will eat up 10M leaving us with 11-12M. Would you prefer to see him go after:

1) Free Agents who can help the team win next year (i.e. Pastrnak, Dumba, Killorn, etc)
2) Free Agents on short term deals that can be flipped at the Deadline (i.e. like Klingberg this season)
3) Take on some short term bad contracts in exchange for prospects/picks (i.e. Monahan)
4) Hold on to the cap space and let the team's play determine if we buy or take on cap dumps closer to the deadline
5) Some other approach

I think it is easy options 2 or 3 and the the following season option 1.

 

[Steve Shutt]

I'm guessing we might see the Habs pick up a bad contract or two in the coming weeks as teams try to create cap room to enable them to acquire playoff depth