Joined: May 2019
Posts: 1,797
Likes: 564
No way St. Louis retains that much salary for that return. I highly doubt they'd be willing to retain any at all, but they would definitely want more then a prospect you don't want, a winger you don't want and a third round pick.
There is also no way to "backload" an NHL contract to reduce the cap hit. Cap hits are calculated by Average Annual Value, meaning no matter what a player makes in a given year, their cap hit stays the same. You can't do it on cap friendly because it's not possible in real life.