No way flyers retain that much salary for such a mediocre return. I think they accept with no retention, but to retain that much it would probably cost at least another 1st.

100% agree!

What if we add Lucius and upgrade the 2025 3rd to a 2nd? I think it behooves Philly to get off the last few years of Ristolainen as well. Yes, you're retaining some salary, but you're freeing up ~4M of cap space in 2025-26-27 when that contract might be harder to move.

I think that trade doesn’t really benefit either team. Thats a big haul for a player like Risto who fills a role but has deficiencies and the flyers could better use that retention slot. I can’t see them retaining for that long considering they are already retaining on Hayes and could use that cap flexibility to gain better assets elsewhere. But with that said its a decent offer since the flyers need center depth.

I think that if you're the Jets, you get Risto at 2.5m for the next four years. Even if he's not a top-4 RHD, he's going to be a servicable 3rd pairing guy with cost certainty for four more seasons. If you can find a team willing to eat another $1m/year, you get him at like 1.6 or something, which is basically what you would pay a 7th D.