I don't think too many people know how LTIR works. You don't want an LTIR contract unless you need to hit the cap floor. It only benefits you if the player was already on your team before going on LTIR.

why are you giving all that for Bjugstad?!

Leafs decline the trade and Hanifin declines to play in Canada

I'll be honest in that I don't understand LTIR rules completely, but I think you're wrong. The Leafs have employed this tactic many times ... here's an article that I think explains it ... https://puckpedia.com/news/LTIRTrade#:~:text=While%20on%20LTIR%2C%20a%20team,the%20%2481.5M%20Salary%20Cap.

Retention for an additional year under contract was my thinking. Also Leafs first rounder next year likely to be in the high 20's so not all that different from an early 2nd rounder. Hirvonen is a mediocre prospect at best and Bjugstad is an established middle six forward on a steal of a deal @ the retained number. But you might be right, could be too much.

You don't gain any additional space by trading for Weber. His cap hit just goes on LTIR, and that's what they're referring to when they say you can exceed the cap.

Put another way, if the cap ceiling is 83.5M, and the Leafs payroll is at 83.5M, acquiring Weber doesn't mean they can also acquire another 7.5M player for free. The amount they go over the cap is Weber's contract, but that's the only difference. And if a player will eventually come back from LTIR, the team needs to clear that much cap space so that when the LTIR player does return, the team is cap compliant. With Weber never returning, it doesn't really matter in this instance, but it does not help the Leafs.