The team is not going to be blown up. First of all, this is the same core group of guys that went to the finals last year. Secondly, in today's salary-cap NHL you can't just unload players with big contracts because they're not performing.

People talk about using Redden's money to bring in some new top-level players, but when you actually look at the financial numbers you'll see that they have already spent that money on Heatley, Spezza and Fisher:

http://www.nhlnumbers.com/overview.php?team=OTT

I agree that Emery will be bought out to free up cap space. Of all the UFA's they have, I think they'll seriously try to re-sign Stillman, Donovan and Dimitrakos. They might see if Lapointe will stay for a lot less money, but I doubt that Commodore, Robitaille or Richardson will be given offers. I also believe that Kelly will be gone - he signed a 1-year deal last year just prior to arbitration so he could be a UFA this year. Someone else will offer him more, and he'll take it.

As for the RFA's, they definately want to keep Vermette and Meszaros but will have to spend more money to do so. They'll probably drop McGratton to make room for some of the younger guys from Bingo like Zubov or Nikulin.

I think everyone else is staying - at least until after Christmas. A few new guys will be brought in, and you might see Schubert being moved back to defence full-time next year - but I don't expect any blockbuster moves. The biggest change is going to be the new coach anyway.