Edited Aug. 18, 2021 at 3:03 p.m.
Quoting: BeterChiarelli
They do but Edmonton lands a negative $3.4M cap hit at the same time.
Might not be his choice. Could be injured, could fail his physical. For all we know he is planning on retiring next year and that's why Bowman made Holland pay out the nose for him. Can't just give a team a free $3.4M to spend. It's a thought experiment, how about you focus on the rest of the AGM instead?
Edmonton would not get hit with any cap recapture. Florida didn't get hit with recapture penalties when Luongo retired because they didn't receive any cap benefit while he played with them. Chicago is the only team that would be penalized if Keith retires early.
If he's injured and fails his physical, then he'll go to Robidas island and will finish up the contract on LTIR. He doesn't "retire" nor would there be recapture penalties for anyone.
Edit: Correction. Florida did receive some cap benefit while Luongo played with them since his salary was still higher than his cap hit when he was traded. However, the recapture penalty is significantly less than Vancouver's because it is mitigated by the few years that he did play for them at a lower salary. Edmonton never had Keith on the roster while he made more than his cap hit, so they wouldn't get hit with any recapture penalties.
Edit #2: Apologies, I misunderstood your premise. You're saying that Edmonton would get a recapture benefit and not a penalty if Keith retires early. That is correct. My mistake. Carry on.