[saillias]

I se a lot of good opportunity for next year actually.

They're basically capped out next year. That's a GOOD thing because they are forced into fiscal discipline. They have to give a shot to guys on ELCs. No more room for Rooneys.

They have to replace the 4th line. They have Zary and Schwindt, both will have a good amount of AHL experience, will be 22 next year and still be on their ELCs. It's not impossible we have a Zary-Schwindt-Duehr 4th line next year.

They can't afford to have a good 6th D like Stetcher. Stone is UFA and might be done, Mackey is gone. As a 20 year old Poirier leads defenseman rookie scoring in the AHL. He's a left shot, will be 21 and could be paired with Tanev. He makes 835K on his ELC. That will be very attractive.

6 key players in contract years will also be playing for their last pay day.

This year had historically bad goaltending which will probably "regress" to the mean. Even if Markstrom is probably on the decline due to age, a dead cat bounce is possible or even likely. Look at what improvement to goaltending did for NJ year over year.

Coronato is likely signing soon

And then there's a few more wild cards, Kylington could come back, Wolf could potentially push out Vladar or Markstrom, and that 1st round pick could potentially be an NHLer next year. This year is getting ugly and seems to be spiraling down. That could be a blessing. This org needs a franchise player badly.

As for the GM/coach situation I think it's a Cassidy in Boston or Trotz in Wash situation where he's a good coach but they just have to move on because the room hates him. Yes they just extended him - but they extended Huberdeau for longer and more. he will win that battle