By deadline next year

Team: 2023-24 Seattle Kraken

Initial Creation Date: Apr. 29, 2023

Published: Apr. 29, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

The idea is that the lineup by the season opener next year won't be this lineup, and some moves will occur during the season, and this lineup will be what the team looks like after deadline. Evans plays 50% of games until about the 25-30 game mark before taking the spot from Gustafsson full time. Wright will start in the AHL for half the season before joining the team and playing 3C for 10-15 games and closing out the season 2C, this allows him to naturally graduate into a 2C role. Wennberg and Gus are replaced by Wright and Evans by deadline, but are able to play 2C and pp2 bottom pair D in the meantime. I think the Schultz trade is probably the most realistic, and the Wennberg trade is pretty likely if they decide Wennberg doesn't fit by deadline, but the Winnipeg trade feels like a bit of a stretch. I tried taking advantage of a retooling Jets team, but I doubt they're willing to take an aging middle 6 winger, a slightly above average backup, and a playoff team 1st for an A- grade right handed defenseman prospect, but it'd be cool if it did. For contracts, I think when compared to a guy like Morgan Reilly (probably the closest comparable in the league) it doesn't make sense for Dunn to make more than 7 mil, and I think the 6.6-6.8 range is most realistic. Most of the other guys are on "prove it" deals; Sprong, Borgen, Geekie, Nedeljkovic, they're all guys who you can keep around for the sake of minimizing change and because they play their role well. Clifton is on the largest deal of the new guys and second only to Dunn for all signings, and I think with the way he fits the lineup, he'd be a great alternative to Soucy, and far more valuable as a D partner to Evans development and as a penalty killer.

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