They can get to 60.2mil with only White on IR and two league min contracts rounding out the 23 man roster (see here), assuming that's still the floor. Although FWIW I think Bishop ($800k) is week to week right now with an ankle injury as well.

compiling standings points predictions right now pic.twitter.com/JG38f6YDgz

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) October 6, 2021

@Db1899

The bad years last 3 seasons, not including this one (22-23, 23-24, and 24-25). Rossi can slide and be ELC for the whole thing, but the other two can't, which means Boldy and Addison will need new deals in the summer of 2023 (2 worst years left increasing by 2mil over 22-23, 8.25mil comes off the books in Dumba and Kulikov, so they'd better hope Addison can handle 2RD by then and then need to sign another D), and Beckman will need a new deal in the summer of 2024 (one bad year left, although Zuccarello comes off the books that summer so he'll probably take his money and spot in the top 6 by then). 9mil comes off the books in Rask/Goligoski this summer and the buyout jumps 8mil, leaving them with 2mil in cap room (bcz the cap goes up), to sign a 2LD, a top 9 centre (call me a cynic but JEE is their only true top 9 centre, and Rossi should be played at 3C as a rookie), and then most importantly give raises to Fiala (5.1mil currently), Greenway (2.1mil), and Kahkonen (725k). It's gonna be a struggle to maintain the status quo, let alone improve, even if everyone takes bridge deals, which would be subpar, and I think Fiala especially would like to get paid seeing how he's taken 2 bridge deals already. And it doesn't solve their current problem, namely the need for another good centre. I just don't see them as true contenders until 25-26 at the earliest, when they suddenly have an extra 13mil to pursue a great centre and upgrades elsewhere. They'll probably stay in the murky middle until then, maybe reach the 2nd round once or twice if they're lucky.

I think Rossi starts in the AHL this season just because he hasn’t played in a while , but I expect him to be a star 1C within the next few years. Boldy has the potential to be a 1LW . JEE is at worst a high end 2C right now and they have a few solid 3Cs so I don’t think center is as big of a concern as people make it out to be. Just let Rossi continue to develop, it won’t take him long to break out.

Guerin is a good GM, I think he has a plan to get through it. I highly doubt Greenway is on the team next season and I wouldn’t be surprised if Dumba is traded as well.

22-23 season I see the top 9 and top 4 looking like this.

Kaprizov-JEE-Zuccarello
Boldy-Rossi-Fiala
Beckman-Gaudreau-Foligno

Brodin-Spurgeon
Kulikov-Addison

They also have Khusnutdinov, Lambos , and Wallstedt who are all great prospects and should be ready to contribute in 3 years.

Looks like Byfield is gonna be out long term with a broken ankle. Very unfortunate for him and the LAK organization. Really can't wait to see if he's the real deal, but nothing I've seen thus far makes me think he is. But, I hope he recovers fast. Kings are a really fun team to root for.

What I think the Devils lineup should be
Tatar-Hughes-Sharangovich
Zacha-Hischier-Bratt
Kuokkanen-Mercer-Holtz
Wood-McLeod-Johnsson

Graves-Hamilton
Smith-Severson
Siegenthaler/Bahl-Subban

Blackwood
Bernier

Bobcat’s Post Game Notes, Preseason Game 6

Jackets win, 4-2 over the Red Wings.

-Laine had a stunner of a goal:’one man show, coast-to-coast. I think I’m gonna name my firstborn son Patrik now.

-Jakub Voracek with another 3-point outing.

-The power play was on a roll all night. This is why we didn’t need to sign Ryan Nugent-Hopkins this off-season.

-This looked good, but how will we look against a team that has a feasible chance at a Cup (Leafs, Oilers, Avs, Lightning, etc)?

Samuel Blais looks awesome so far!

I think you should swap Kuokkanen with Wood. Wood isn't a good fit on a 4th line

And btw, you should really enjoy Mercer. I live in Quebec and he is hands down one of the bets players to come out of the Q in the last decade, MacKinnon being of course another one of them

I've always liked Blais, he's a good 3rd liner

Absolutely, the kind of perfect bottom sixer

NHL/NHLPA announce Carey Price will be away from the team to voluntarily take part in the Player Assistance Program

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 7, 2021

Oh man oh man. Either we burn out Allen with a crazy workload and lose, or we play Montembeault and lose.

So tank szn???

Zona thanks you.

Worst case we have the 11th pick, which goes to Arizona. Best case we have a top 5 pick that is ours.

Oh yeah. Conditional picks are nice.

Even better scenario; we end up with the 10th overall pick and the Hurricanes win the cup.

Caleb Jones would have been a better pick

Hearing the first three players selected to Team USA 🇺🇸 Men’s Olympic hockey roster for #Beijing2022 are Seth Jones, Patrick Kane and Auston Matthews.@DFOHockey

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) October 7, 2021

EA Sports are in charge of Team USA this year.

I mean everyone but ARI fans would be happy with that scenario.

In other words, everyone would be happy with that scenario lol.

I don't think I've ever seen a player's value and appreciation plummet as hard as Jones' did in 2021.

Jeff Skinner comes close.

The analytic community will sh*t their pants.

His on ice impact was the worst it’s ever been but most people blamed CBj for that. He’s still recognized as a top 10 defenseman in the league when he’s not even top 50.

Lol I don’t even think you need analytics to see Jones isn’t a top pair guy. I mean he’s even looked brutal in preseason, responsible for multiple goals and high danger chances against. At best he’s an ok 2nd pairing D.