It might be more of a problem had LE actually performed close to his contract for the first three years and started to decline the last season. But matter of fact, he did not perform any where close to his contract since day 1 so making his life miserable wouldn't affect other UFA's minds.
This division is gonna be a coin flip on who makes it out. All the teams are competitive and none really stands head an shoulders above the rest or are ants ready to be crushed.
Stop freaking out people, this is only gonna be this or at worst the next two seasons due to Covid and border/traveling restrictions.
All I can hope for is for this slip up causes Vegas to lose the Bettman Golden Boy status and gain a spot permanently in the league hate list.
I am more surprised than anything else that Tampa hasn't done, other than the futile waiver attempt, anything yet.
They are literally in cap hell right now and as each day go by, less chairs will be at the table.
Different perspective, we ain't fixing all our problems this off season. This team ain't gonna contend for the cup next year. What JB did has one stop the bleeding and is a step in the right direction. Those other players will have to come from within rather than more signing and trades. That said JB ain't done yet but with the Schmidt trade, we are at least back to being a playoff worthy team again.