1) Larsson shouldn't make the team, but I don't want to speculate on what he can and can't be traded for. If he can be traded for picks, then use that money to sign Ethan Bear longer term. If he must be moved in a hockey trade (Tanner Pearson?), then play the acquired player 3LW, move Ennis to 3RW, then look to trade preferably Kassian if possible, Chiasson if not.
2) Mike Smith isn't an NHL caliber goalie. I don't have the exact list of goalies that need to go on waivers, but I'd bet my life savings that a lot of them will be better than Smith. Claim one of them and move Smith to the minors.
3) I got a lot of high earners in the minors. They aren't NHL level players, and they don't have clauses that force them to stay in the NHL. The NMC is there for a reason, if they don't have it, then they can be moved down for any reason.
Edit:
4) I see the Adam Larsson hive is alive and well. Keep in mind, he has not been traded yet. If everyone insists that a dman who's been outscored 162-121 in the last 3 seasons is a vital part of our team, then we will be fully cap compliant playing him and sending Bouchard to the minors
While I no longer advocate the extension of Adam Larsson, to discount the role he plays on this team is disingenuous at best: he is Edmonton's strongest defensive option on the blueline and eats a myriad of minutes. There's value in having him paired with Jones for this season: Edmonton's going to be running a very young blueline for the foreseeable future and maximizing how much Adam can pass onto guys like Jones and Bear before he leaves has value. If you trade Larsson, the structure of the blueline as a whole crumbles: you either end up with Bear playing 24+ minutes a night or Russell playing more than 16. I don't think he's by far the most optimal name Edmonton could be employing, but given that there's but a year left on his deal, he's far from being the primary issue this team had last year. A healthy Larsson is a legitimate top-4 option. The only caveat is that he needs to be healthy.
Burying Neal makes no sense at all, short or long-term. You only gain a hair over a million dollars in cap flexibility: fundamentally it makes more sense to bite the bullet on a buyout and take on more cap savings for success now despite the three extra years of his $2M buyout hit. You appear to have tried to find a middle ground, but only found an inferior option. The play is to pay another team to take (at minimum) 50% of his deal or buy him out. Maybe this season, maybe next, but burying him shouldn't be the primary option. Even Montreal saw the light in an Alzner buyout.
Bouchard doesn't need to be in the NHL this season. An extra year of development isn't hurting him.
I advocate for Bouchard to play, but Larsson hasn't been moved. If you all insist that a 30% 5v5 GF% dman needs to play, he will fit under the cap with Bouchard in the minors.
Burying Neal makes a lot of sense. We can fit him under the cap this season, so by burying him this season, we shave 1 year off his eventual buyout if we choose to do so. Buying him out next season has us on the hook until 2025 instead of 2026. But yes, I agree that paying another team to take him at 50% retention is the best move. I just didn't want to speculate too much on trades. I wanted this to be centralized around what we can do on our own account.