I don't think they are in bad shape, and I don't think Hudler will be the problem. If he is looking at a $7 mil cap hit, I don't think he will stick around. So much will depend on term for him, so it is really hard to speculate, but either they open up his money for others, or they need to sign the 7-8 players for $14-16 mil. Quite possible, as we essentially talking about bottom D pairing and 3/4 liners. If your other assumptions are close, Brad and company have done an excellent job locking down the core.
The wild card for me is in goal. They have over $7 mil locked down for this year, which is too much. One or both of Hiller/Ramo will be gone and I would suggest the backup will be on an ELC or much cheaper deal. The starter is next to impossible to predict.
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From HFBoard oiler fan, in analyzing MacT's management:
O.K. there has been a lot of talk on whether or not MacTavish has actually done a good job for us, most fans on this board are very basic in their analysis and I feel would change their opinion entirely if the team was successful.
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