If Lucic retires after collecting his $3m signing bonus and it doesnt count against the cap, the flames arent going to have much trouble resigning and keeping Johnny, Tkachuk, Kylington and Mangiapane. They also wouldnt have to buy out Monahan.
They'd also be in a situation where they don't have a single "bad" contract. That in and of itself should convince Tkachuk and Johnny to come back, as it suggests the team will be positioned to contend for as long as Johnny and Tkachuk are playing at a high level.
Johnny-lindholm-tkachuk
Mangiapane-Monny-Coleman
Dube-Backlund-Taffoli
Pelletier-Ruzicka-Jarnkrok
Lewis
Hanifin-andersson
Tanev-Kylington
Valimaki-Mackey
This would be a team that is genuinely 12 forwards deep with a high quality top-6. The only knock would be no "generational quality" player. But there's enough talent to overcome that by committee.
|