Quoting: ON3M4N
Actually they also got Kase in the deal, so it wasn't like they spent a 1st just to dump cap, they got an asset back. Also assuming no cap change, Boston has roughly $20 million in cap space with really only Krug due for a big raise. They are not in dire need of cap space. They're more likely to see if anyone is willing to pay to use their CBO (if there was one) and gain assets back.
Maybe we're not looking at the same thing. Boston has about 20 mil in cap space if the cap stays the same, and somewhere between 15-20 mil in cap space between how much the cap goes down.
Using the Evolving Wild estimates (which last year were within a mil of 90% of all signings and within an average of 800k of the top 20 signings):
Krug: 7.5 mil
Debrusk: 4.25 mil for a 2 year bridge or 5.5 mil for a long term deal
Gryzelcyk: 3.75 mil
Right there that's 15 mil of the 20 mil in cap space.
Now, Boston has to sign Bjork, Kuhlman, Ritchie, (sure they all get 700k - 1 mil), but then Boston has to worry about Halak, and he's going to get a slight raise as well. Which will put them right up against the ceiling.
And I think having Halak or being able to sign DeBrusk to a long term deal as opposed to a bridge is A LOT more important than a replaceable level Dman makin 3x what he's worth...