5. Kiefer Sherwood, $775K AAV in 2023-24
Sherwood was one of the many examples of players enjoying individually career high seasons in Brunette's offensive system. As part of Nashville's "energy" fourth line, Sherwood flourished in his role along with Michael McCarron and Cole Smith.
Although it shouldn't be incredibly difficult to keep Sherwood in Nashville for at least another year, I wouldn't blame him for testing the market if Nashville isn't willing to give him a decent pay raise. After all, he did earn it and he's only 29.
If I'm Trotz, I would stick to my guns and not go multi-year for Sherwood. You give him a slight pay bump and another year and see if he accepts. As much as a love the player, he's still a fringe fourth line player in the NHL. You can't pour too much money into that type of a role player.
I'm kind of 50/50 on if Sherwood is retained or not for 2024-25, but I'll slightly lean towards yes with a modest increase in pay. Cole Smith got a contract extension that put him from $775,000 to $1M, and I can see the same happening for Sherwood.
If you can make it happen and the numbers make sense, then you would prefer keeping the fourth line intact for next season. But I'm definitely not overspending if Sherwood wants to test the open market.