If I was Vancouver I would just Bury both of them for another year and keep 9th

Man this is a kick in the nads to your fanbase after just reaching the finals huh? Pack it in?

My thinking is that they wanna lock Hughes and Pettey up long term now and need to clear money up for it instead of giving them bridge deals and possibly driving their contracts up.

Reached the finals yes but they should have been in the Laffy sweepstakes and Price carried them past Pitt to ruin that chance, then division realignments let Bergevin take a chance on playofffs last year that worked out but now time to focus on youth. Gallagher, Toffoli, Anderson and Petry are locked in long term so they can suffer for two years and still be there as veterans for playoff pushes later.

Vancouver whole heartily declines

Its likely the price if they want to clear salary. If they wanna just wait the year I can see it just puts them tight against it for EP and Hughes contracts.

Otto leskinen has signed a contract to play in KHL next season

1st is probably the price, but not this years top 10 pick and any other would be lottery protected.
They can sign bridge deals, that keep them RFA status then sign them to 8 year deals...

The price for Carolina to take on Marleau was 13th overall and that was half this cap hit. And dont think teams wanna trade away 2022 picks yet since its a deeper draft and they will actually get to scout properly, where as this year is much more of a crap shoot then usual.

I do think you're right though, they likely bridge them and go from there, just wanted to make this as a possibility

it cost a 1st for marleau cause Carolina guaranteed Toronto they would buy out Marleaus contract which caused a 2 year cap hit.

VAN is going with short term deals with both.