Quoting: TooMalevolent
It remains to see what ARZ gets back for OEL (probably nothing), and how much of the contract they need to keep, but they are not taking that much money back. No team would do this, but especially ARZ would not. Not they are not give away players on top of that.
Really have to look beyond cap hit here and instead look at the actual dollars being shipped out.
After retention, the Canucks are taking on 8.9 million in salary for just next year for ekman-Larsson. He has no signing bonuses this year so all of that is paid next season.
Myers and Eriksson already have their signing bonuses paid, so they are a COMBINED 4 million dollars in salary next season. That means Arizona immidietly saves over 4 million dollars in cash simply by swapping out OEL With retention for Myers and Eriksson.
This is, obviously, a very bad trade for the Canucks on its own since OEL has, by far, the worst contract of all players involved. The most term, the highest AAV, the most cash owing, and he’s been very bad the past 3 seasons. Coyotes would have to add making it worth Vancouvers while.
Schmaltz is another player on the coyotes who is owed a lot of money coming up. In the final 3 years of his contract, he is owed 7.5 million, then 8.45 million, then 8.5 million. He is a decent sweetener for the Canucks as he fills an obvious hole and he is a sensible option to include for Arizona since he is owed so much real cash.
Arizona is very cash strapped and is actively trying to lower payroll. That’s why this is the only type of trade the Canucks would do. Even then, Canucks take on all the risk here