Wow. I would think Philly would have learned that greatly overpaying UFA's when they are rebuilding is counterproductive

Are Atkinson and Couturier likely to play again?

In the lone case of a guy like Pesce, I think it'd be the right call. They don't really have any big contracts currently, York looks like the real deal and we don't have anything even in the same stratosphere of a good partner for him. With Atkinson expiring, most of the team locked up long term, and a rising cap, I think it makes sense (should also point out that I wouldn't want a "backup player" in this case, it'd be Pesce or nobody)

99% chance Couturier plays again (there's a real chance he squeezes in a couple of games before the end of this season), Atkinson I'm going to say like 60% chance.

Canes pass on both those trades, and good luck signing Pesce, cause the Flyers are going to need that luck. As for the trades, Morrow isn’t being moved, and the Canes aren’t bringing back TDA.

Even without the potential PR issues, I'm pretty sure Prvorov is of little interest to Francis and the Kraken. They didn't touch top picks at the deadline for a playoff push, doubtful they would this off-season for a player who is a far cry from a sure thing at this point. Also . . . Not sure of the numbers, but in his time as GM (Carolina and now Seattle) I don't believe Francis has much of a history drafting Russian players, nor did he select even one in the Expansion Draft.

Seems as if the organization really wants to see Gauthier at center and it seems like his game translated well in his first season at BC, is the move to wing purely because of the addition of Fantilli?

Pretty much. Slight chance I could see them try to run Fantilli-Gauthier-Couturier down the middle, but they're already weak at LW and I think one of Frost or Cates is more than capable of filling a top-9 role (and to be clear, 0 chance I'm sticking Fantilli on the wing)

Ideally I think Cates fills that top 9 wing role very well, unfortunately I don't think he'd ever produce enough to play 2C but I could see him as a shut down piece on a second line that chips in 40-45 points a year. He's had an insanely underrated year defensively. The reason I asked was I'd love to see them be able to run a 1-2 punch of Fantilli and Gauthier for the net decade if this happened. I guess it really depends on how Couturier rebounds from the surgery.