I think he could have brought Mitts in at $6M without messing the rest of the cap up. He's gonna have to pay Byram now instead.
The thing that baffles me is that, according to the Mitts camp, the team never even approached them about extending him. Mitts was the perfect Swiss Army Knife forward: Can play wing or center, was okay centering the 3rd line but when Tage was injured he filled in very creditably as 1C. Why would you NOT want that kind of player on your roster?
If Casey would have signed for $6M I think you do that all day long. McLeod is making $4.2M and is about a 30 point player at 3C. You get almost twice that production out of Mitts and he seemed content as the 3C who rotated up to the top 6 when needed. It gave the HC great flexibility for juggling the roster, especially when injuries occurred.
Another comp would be FLA 3C Anton Lundell, who makes $5M and is about a 30-35 point player.
When I look at it all these different ways I'm just aghast that Kevyn so readily parted with Mitts.
Think what Lindy could do with his forward lines if he still had Mitts.