Li - I'd pair him with Gabi, but only after his duplicity is revealed and she reunites with memory-returned Stefan for six months. Then Li's revealed to be the long-lost son of Sandy Horton and Tony DiMera, allowing Gabi to have had relations with all extant branches of the Horton tree and notching up another DiMera. This also gives them control of the company somehow.
Eric - back to Africa, where he will die without issue in a few decades
Rafe - Sami returns, now cleansed of EJ, and he gets offered an FBI job in LA or wherever she lives. They elope and never return. I'd recast Galen Gering, totally new look (like blonde hair, blue contacts, fake nose - gradually fading the look to his usual face; and new clothes) as a new character named Atticus Boyle and move him in new circles.
Chad - After a fling with Stephanie, which they feel is too close for comfort, he falls head over heels for Jada. who aborted her unplanned pregnancy. Their major obstacle is whether to have kids or not; their minor obstacle is Chad is pulled back into criminal DiMera shenanigans, and she's a cop.
Alex - After Stephanie regains her senses and tells her creepy cousin to step back, Alex is depressed. He starts womanising again, and when Bonnie thinks Justin's taken up with Elsa again, she and Alex end up in bed together. When Justin returns, they can't help themselves, and keep going at it. Justin discovers them and suffers a non-fatal heart attack. Victor (offscreen) is furious, exiles Alex to Siberia and runs Bonnie out of town. Alex goes missing, Victor goes off to find him. He does, but their plane goes down in the Sea of Okhotsk. A search finds the wreckage, Alex's glasses, and a piece of jewelry we're asked to believe Victor always wore. A battle for Titan ensues.
EJ - Turns out something was wrong with Rolf's formula that saved everyone who was dead at one point (except Will since he wasn't really dead). EJ goes on a crime spree and is gunned down by Jada.
Johnny - Wendy's too smart for this guy, and Ava's too dead (see above), so after a bit of womanising with Alex, he is infatuated with Gabi for awhile before falling in love with single mom Sarah Horton.
Lucas - Released from prison and a pariah inexplicably, he finds himself in the out-crowd until he befriends Gwen. After a flirtation, he realises she's not over the X-man, and he and also-more-harshly-judged-than-she-ought-to-be Nicole start a friends-with-benefits relationship. A miracle pregnancy and a series of mishaps has the ex-spouses walking down the aisle for a sweeps wedding.
Stefan - Tick, tock, tick, tock...Stefan's not sure how much time he's got. He wants to produce an heir to protect the Maitland millions, which he forgot to tell anyone about, so they weren't in his estate that passed to Gabi. (And that worthless DiMera share.) Sarah dumped Xander and she wants to be a mom. After using artificial means to impregnate her, Stefan and Sarah fall in love. They marry, and Stefan dies three days after she gives birth to their son, Nikolai.
Xander - As noted above, the kidnapping scheme sends Sarah to a divorce lawyer. Xander's low, but exonerated. He spends months beating himself up and working his tail off at the warehouse. He's the first to respond to Victor's summons, and accompanies Victor to find the missing Alex. Victor sends him home early. He and Gwen fall in love slowly over this whole period. After the crash, he is wracked with guilt for not insisting Victor return with him, and full of regrets for the things he hasn't done. He and Gwen marry just before Philip discovers that Titus owned a majority of Titan and his will stated Victor could control the shares, but upon his death, they would go to Titus's heirs. Titan belongs to Gwen and Xander.
Nicole - as above, ends up with Lucas
Gabi - as above, flirts with Stefan, ends up with reformed and overly connected Li
Wendy - after a few dates with Johnny go nowhere, she finds wild passion with Davey Banning, Julie's great-grandson who comes to Salem after finishing college
Stephanie - creeped over the line by Alex, she decides to join the DiMera side after Chad rejoins the company. They keep it professional. This puts her at odds with Philip. Sparks fly, but are squelched when he spirals after Victor's death. After forming an unlikely friendship with Nicole, she decides to be single for good. This is not tested when Nathan Horton returns to town to win her back. But Nathan respects her boundaries, and after a disaster strands them together, they fall in love again.
Susan returns to Memphis with Roger, who it turns out is really Elvis.
Allie and Chanel try to make a go of it, but are better friends than lovers. Chanel dates Tripp. Allie decides to avoid her mother's fate of a string of miserable Salem romances by joining a nunnery, but she drops out when she falls in love with another nun. She then falls for Leo's paternal half-brother, Mark-Linn Cooper. Mark-Linn's a single dad whose wife (Atticus's daughter) left under mysterious circumstances not fully of her own accord. After some drama, they become the stable couple of the show, with their two previous kids, a set of twins, and two single babies forming a clan that will sustain storytelling for decades.
Chanel meanwhile is bored by Tripp, who again gets a job offer that moves him to parts offscreen. She falls in love with Melinda Trask and they become a power couple, with Melinda's heart softened by Chanel, and Chanel inspired by Melinda's drive. Melinda becomes a public defender, and Chanel goes to work for her ex-husband at Titan. They decide to have a family, so Chanel is implanted with Melinda's egg fertilized by a sperm donor. They have a son named George and are shocked to discover that he's got a claim to the Dimera fortune.
Gwen - as above, with Xander. Most of her non-Xander story focuses on healing her relationships, flirtations with Lucas, and dealing with her father's impeding demise.
Jennifer once again selects Frankie Brady as her runner-up after the death of Jack, and they move to Boston to manage Laura's estate.
Sarah as above dumps Xander and falls for sperm donor Stefan, who dies after they're married of post-Rolf syndrome.
Sloan falls for Eric while he's moping, and follows him to Africa, even though he doesn't know who she is.
Chloe stays with Brady. They leave Salem and are so happy that the only mention of them is when John and Marlena celebrate Christmas and receive a card from the couple announcing a new development.
Ava dies of post-Rolf syndrome.
Kristen, who probably never really died (I'm too lazy to check), and if she did, it was a double, goes even more bananas than usual when she learns that Rachel is not her child, but the child of TJ Schofield (son of former characters Molly Brinker and Tanner Schofield) and Jade Michaels who was switched at birth by a nurse being blackmailed by Alex Marshall under the robotic command of the still-not-back-in-Salem Megan Hathaway. This revelation has ripples for others, as the child that Jade and TJ have been raising is really the bio child of the recently widowed Sarah Horton and her one-night stand, recently married multimillionaire Xander Kiriakis. I'm sure they'll be adult about this situation.
