isn't he asking for 4x2? if that is the case, you would be over the cap. i'm sure teams are willing to pay the full 4M and maybe even more

I think if Vegas is willing to come up closer to his asking price he'd be willing to work with them a little bit. They brought him over early so that he could burn his ELC and make more in his first season. They did something good for him so he should do something good by taking 200-250 K off his asking price.

The point is Fair at 3,8 or 4 or 4,2... simply sending Zykov down and saves 700K$

I think we can also sign Eggy for $700K. Because he is 35+ we can throw in performance bonuses of $800K or $1.3M or whatever and only $700K shows up on the cap hit. Eggy would be more than willing to do this. Hell, Spezza signed for $700K WITHOUT performance bonuses.

Is he going to play in the NHL this season?

If not traded, the only team Gusev can play with is Vegas. He is not eligible for an offer sheet. If he goes back to the KHL he will have to sit out at least the whole season before coming back as a UFA.

In the NHL when the team makes their initial offer 2m x 2yrs and you counter with 4m x 2yrs, The general logic is the deal gets done somewhere in the middle

He would actually have to sit out 2 years before he can be free of Vegas and be a UFA since Vegas gave him a formal offer. This triggers what is known as the defector clause

That remains to be seen, that really is the only leverage Gusev has, if he wants to play hardball, he would have to go back to the KHL for 2 years before he can be a UFA under the defector clause. And then he would be a 29 yr old unproven (never played in NHL), I doubt that would increase his stock no matter how well he does over there.