Brooks' premise is that clearing out Shattenkirk alone this season would be enough to get them under. Assuming DeAngelo and Lemieux sign what their QO's were, that gives them about $1.7 million in space with 13 F, 6 D, and 2 G. I've got Beleskey, McKegg, and Nieves all sent down and the following lineup.
Panarin - Mika - Kakko
Kreider - Chytil - Buch
Namestnikov - Lias - Kravtsov
Strome - Howden - Fast
Lemieux
Skjei - Trouba
Staal - DeAngelo
Smith - Fox
Henrik
Georgiev
It looks like Kakko didn't get the full amount of bonuses in his contract as CapFriendly shows it being as $2.65 mil in bonuses when the max is $2.85. I don't know whether the 200K got sliced off the type A, type B, or both. For now, I'm just operating under the assumption he can nail down the full $850K in type A as the criteria outlined is more than achievable if he hits the ground running and gets the ice time we expect him to get. The type B bonuses would take one hell of a rookie season to get.
Kratsov is allocated $850K in bonuses so it looks like the type B bonuses weren't included in his contract. I don't think he'll be hitting the type A but you never really know I guess. It's not unfathomable he hits 20 goals or 35 assists with the right linemates and PP time.
So the Rangers would be operating at $1.7 million in cap to operate the team. Factor in having space to manage the team during the season, the fact they don't have a 7th D on the team I have outlined, and building in cushion for the performance bonuses (don't forget Fox has performance bonuses too though it's unlikely he hits them and Chytil and Andersson also have varying amounts of performance bonuses in their deals) and $1.7 million sure doesn't seem like a lot of space to me by just buying out Shattenkirk. Sure, they could roll over the bonuses but you just bought out one of your highest cap hits who was probably your most tradable asset next offseason too and are carrying nearly his entire cap hit. The Rangers currently have $65ish million in cap expenditures for next season on 15 players. Georgiev, Kreider, Namestnikov, Strome, Fast, Lemieux, DeAngelo and Nieves are all either UFA or RFA. I wouldn't expect the cap to go up again much next season either. Buying out Shattenkirk gets them under but to me, they still have to make one other move to give them ample space even if it's something small like dumping Beleskey somewhere to say the 875K.