Haha, I created a proposal around Hogland + our dead cap to make things work going forward. I'm glad you're highlights this issue as well OP. We'll be losing guys just to keep our core and hope that ELCs can fill some roles. Even then, there's risk of guys performing on ELCs and hitting their bonuses.
I see many people assuming a cap increase, well ticket sales are down across the board and they'll be dipping into escrow to keep the cap flat at best.
I'm happy people are seeing Sutter for the cap dump he is. He has long lost me as a fan.
Anyways, back to next season. I see us walking from Tanev (injury history) and Stecher. I could see Leivo coming back for the same contract, if only due to this knee injury hampering his stats/appeal. Markstrom 5-6m (hopefully) with term, Gaudette 'show me' 2-3m 2 years, Virtanen 3m 3 years, Leivo 1.5m (as mentioned). 11.5-13.5m for those guys, puts us to a 17 man roster, needing 2 defenseman and extras. Hopefully Rafferty and Juolevi can make the jump - 2m between em.
Anyone that doesn't see next season and the one after as having cap problems needs to spend some time on 'armchair gm': https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm
We'll be getting worse on paper, no matter how you slice it. We have to deal our dead cap, even if that means adding an attractive piece.