Pretty sure Leafs would rather have Bernier as back up, don't see them burying him in minors.
Connor Carrick and Marincin won't make that much money, well just not yet. Haven't proved much to be making $1.8M & $2M/yr

Gotta agree with Billion Dolla, no way Bernier gets buried. Connor is restricted with very little NHL experience, he gets 925000 on a two way deal. Marincin gets a legit deal but $2M seems a little rich. But bigger issues here, NO chance 3 rookies are the starting first line. If your buddy Sosh makes the team to start, he probably plays with Kadri on the right side. Gardiner and Ziatsev as first pairing is a not even funny. Unless they bring someone in (Demers, Quincy, for example) and I think they will, Morgan Rielly is your stud and he played very well last year with Marincin. Gardner is a defensive liability and, assuming he doesn't get traded, plays with a strong defensive player… which the leafs don't quite have ready yet. I like Zaitsev but they will shield him early and on the 2nd or more likely 3rd pairing. This was a little surprising Pal. Your usually pretty intuitive but this team looks like your sister hacked your computer…

Regardless of the line pairings and contract amounts...you're description nailed it. Probably looking at a jump from 30th overall to the 20-25 range. They may have a perfect storm lining up next off season with a lot of dead weight coming off the books while other GM's may be looking to obtain assets for their players that will be unprotected.