Joined: Apr. 2018
Posts: 5,351
Likes: 1,535
I know Caps fans love to bring in ex-Penguins, best way to be them without wearing black and gold, right.
However, Fleury is not the same goalie that he was in Pittsburgh. He really isn't worth $3.5Mx2 cap hit to a team that legitimately spends to the cap.
In any $3.5M retention scenario, Vegas would be paying a middle team to Take Fleury, retain the $3.5M then hand Fleury off to the end team. The end team would not be giving up much at all as 36yo $3.5Mx2 Fleury is not something that you "pay" for, and Vegas would be getting nothing in return, except $7M in cap space.
Something like:
Fleury, 1st to middle team for FC's (could be a bust of a prospect, just something with no real value)
Fleury with middle team retaining $3.5Mx2 <-> 5th from end team
Vegas: $7M in cap space for a 1st
Middle team: 1st, 5th for retention
End team: Fleury at $5.3M for a 5th