[Caged Great]

Personally if I had my pick of the litter for #4 and #5, it would be Stone and Girardi, with Franson and Del Zotto being close runners up. If you could get them under 7, that would be awesome.

Here's how the team stacks up as of right now with Ferland, Bennett, and Lazar as educated guesses (RFA)

Gaudreau (6.75)-Monahan (6.375)-Free Agent
Tkachuk (1.775)-Backlund (3.575)-Frolik (4.3)
Ferland (1.5)-Bennett (2.7)-Brouwer (4.5)
Lazar (1.0)-Stajan (3.125)-Jankowski (.925)
Bouma (2.2)
Hamilton (.613)

Total - 39.338 - 1 Spot to Fill

Giordano (6.75) - Hamilton (5.75)
Brodie (4.65) - Free Agent
Free Agent - Kulak (0.75)
Andersson (.863)

Total - 18.763 - 2 spots

Smith (4.25)
Free Agent

Total - 4.25 - 1 spot

62.351 Million + 1.051 Raymond buyout - 63.402

Cap is 75 mil, so 11.6 million to fill all of that. Stone at 3.5-4 and #5 in the 2.5-3 range would eat most of it up so we could only afford a guy like Versteeg for the 1st line RW (or roll Ferland there). Buying out Stajan and Bouma would save some $ now, but would cost some next year. Not sure if it's worth it. Even re-assigning them to the farm and allowing Chiasson and Janko to take their spots with the cap hits remaining basically flat would be an overall upgrade and would provide injury depth at least.

It's going to be tough to fit anything more than what the current lineup is in there. Going the route of having a great 1-7 defense is probably the best way of going about things even if the Flames lack a true #1 RW.