We currently have $52m in cap hit next season. Re-sign Nemeth and Nieto for $2m each, replace/re-sign Comeau and Bernier for $2.5m-3m each, and we're over $60m, which should be over the cap floor. So, I disagree that we need to sign someone for a decent chunk of change.
I also think that we should be budgeting for the raises our youngsters will be getting over the next couple of years. Between just Rantanen and Zadorov, I'm expecting to add close to $10m in cap hit (which is about $6.5m each) next off season. Beyond them, we'll need to either re-sign or replace Barrie, Compher, Kerfoot, Kamanev, Andrighetto, Jost, Girard, etc. in the next 2 years. If we trade away our higher end prospects and picks to add $7.5m for the next 5 years, where are we going to get cheap, but still good replacements for the guys we can't afford to keep? Do you really want to go back to signing whatever UFAs we can find, rather than having good young players on ELCs?