Rakell isn't moving for anything the leafs are willing to move.

A few things:

-First things first, Kesler has a NMC. If he's "retiring", I don't see why he wouldn't waive it, but how would we know?
-The vast majority of big NHL contracts are insured. If Kes is going on LTIR, why wouldn't the Ducks just take that road? Even if only 50% of the contract is covered (I've read that the majority of big contracts are insured up to 80%), the team spends around $10.5 mil over 3 years vs. the extra $12ish that they'd take by acquiring Kap/Kadri.
-If it's assumed that he's going to play next year, and they don't want him anymore, why not just buy the contract out? It will save them a total of $6.25 mil out of the $20ish that he's owed, leaving $13.35 million the table, and saving the team $4.45 mil/year in cap space.

great points. couple comments

- kesler - yeah not sure why he wouldnt waive it. doesnt make sense not to except out of spite of anaheim, which i dont think would be the case.

- yes his contract is insured. Rakell + Comtois + 20% of Kesler = $5.984 MM per year KAp + Kadri = $7.2 MM per year. Equates to an extra $3 mil over the 3 years kadri and rakell are both on contract for.

Now leafs could make it work for a team like Anaheim by paying kadri's signing bonus of $2 MM this year, and structuring a Kap contract with a huge signing bonus they pay as well. Rakell and comtois are both pure salary equal across all years, and no signing bonus. (comtois has a bit of perf bonus on his ELC but nothing crazy).

- buyout doesnt make sense. Anaheim isn't exactly a very profitable franchise. Buying him out would save some cap space, but buyouts wouldnt be eligible for insurance. Ducks would rather let insurance take care of it., and so would any other team.

But you're right given the insurance, im not sure it's enough for the ducks to move rakell, who is the best player in this deal.