Eichel but Keeping Dube

There is another way besides losing Monahan as well.

If Lucic agrees to waive his NMC and you include Zadorov cap works. Might have to throw in an extra prospect or two to make Buffalo bite the bullet but with Eichel who cares how many prospects you lose.

Buffalo is not going to retain any money for five years. If his deal weren’t so long you’d have a better chance.

I get what you are saying but I also see it being completely possible. With the cap expected to go up a lot over the next 3 years retaining less than league minimum to make means work should definitely be an option on the table

Toronto retained 1.2mil on Kessel for 7 years. Arizona is retaining 990k on OEL for 6 years. There are definitely crazier things out there, and recent precedents for retaining up to a mil for the last 5 years of this deal. Especially because Buffalo isn’t going to be good for 5 years, and will likely be a floor team for the duration of that.

I wouldn't say they wont be "good" for 5 years. I dont think they sit that far off from where Toronto was when they moved Kessel. Draft high this year and next, then Power comes up 2 years from now and they can probably start competing for a playoff spot in around 3-4.

Either way, as I said above the cap is expected to go up a little the next 2 years and a lot 3 years from now so 500k is fairly insignificant, especially since it wont be effecting most of Buffalo's ELC's