My guess is Hanifin, Rittich, Bennett, and Ryan are all explored as potential cap dumps.

Super easy, don't give Mangiapane a ridiculous contract, move Ryan to a team looking for C dept. Mangiapane, 2 years at 2 million per, his contract expires with Gio and Johnny he can get paid then. Frees up 5.125 in cap space.

There's no point,, even with adding both of these guys you're still unable to put a contender on the ice. Holes a 2RW, 4th line, and 3RD.

Leading goal scorer at 5 on 5. He's getting paid. This is based on the Andreas Johnsson contract with an extra year.

Mangiapane led the team in 5 on 5 scoring, would have been one of their leading scorers with more powerplay time, a quality 4th line is overrated, and Valimaki is expected to be very good. The team needs more scoring depth admittedly but those aren't the issues.

That will depend on what Tre does for the expansion draft. I see more Ryan and Rittich as the CAP dump. I don't think Rieder gets 900k. He passed through waivers last year wasn't claimed at 700k. I think he gets the 750k due to his playoffs as a reward.

Hanafin getting traded is short sighted right now. He is 23 has a decent cap hit, also, Gio has two years left before he likely moves into the front office. Valimaki has potential but is still unknown right now so I think Hanafin stays, unless its a trade package with say Monahan or Johnny for a #1 C (Not likely happening). Trading Hanafin leaves the D potentially weak moving forwards.

I think the Markstrom number is really close (regardless what Van fans say) but he gets a NMC in some capacity to bring down the cap hit. The other option would be an extra year to bring it down further but the contract being front loaded like they did with Kipper.

I do like the look of this lineup, and other than a possible trade for Pietrangelo for signing rights, Calgary isn't mortgaging the future by giving up picks to get players.

I agree he's getting paid, but I don't think its 4m. He only did it for the one year. I think 2.75 or 3 for 2 year bridge deal like Sam got is going to happen. He produced more than Sam so he gets a but more.

Basing his contract on Johnsson is basing it on a contract for a guy getting overpaid for 21 points in 43 games. Mangiapane could very easily follow that trend, he has only had good numbers for one season, you don't lock a guy in after a flash in the pan season, see Lance Bouma. In addition why would any GM ever base number off of what Kyle Dubas is doing!? You can hardly find a ACGM for the Leafs that has Johnsson on the roster, they're clearly not glowing over the contract.

Did he play RW like you have him above? Also a quality 4th line is not overrated. Ideally a 4th line that is able to shut down other teams top lines like some teams 4th lines can do gives your best players the ability to play against easier lines.

He played on that exact line in that exact position, yes. No team has a fourth line that is competitive against other team's top lines. They get hidden. Teams use their 2nd and third lines for this.

Markstrom is not signing for that cheap.