Quoting: monkeymo
Verhagee got $4.16M so they have $21M to sign Barkov, 3 top 9 forwards and a top 6 D-man. Then the following year notable expiring contracts are Weager and Hubredeau are UFA and Knight are RFA. Hubredeau we suspect should be at $8M and weager closer to $5M. If they play Knight a lot next year, all of a sudden he can be somewhere around Nedelkjicv at $3/Year. They are a good team, they cant sacrifice the entire third line to sign Reinhart IMO.
Right, Verhaeghe got 4,1M and if Barkov takes a bit more than 10, it'll come down to 15M between the two.
Next year, the Panthers have 22M. Of course, you have to subtract Reinhart's eventual ~6M, so they have about 16M and all they have to sign are Barkov and 2 roster players. Next year will be a walk in the park.
The year after that, the Panthers get help from buyout penalties expiring. We don't have to pay to Darling, and Yandle's dead cap will be 4,1M lower. The Panthers will have, again, over 23M in the cap to sign Huby, Weegar, Knight and 5-6 roster players. You predicted the three will combine 16M. So, again, not challenging.
And the thing is, even if a team gets in a cap crunch, the last cap casualties are top-line players. This is like asking Tampa for Cirelli because of their cap problems. Something else always gives.