Quoting: Xqb15a
COL isn’t trading a dman and they don’t really need cap space. Landeskog and CMC had a presser today and the gist of it is he is coming back but they don’t know when, and it wouldn’t surprise if they push his come back till the playoffs next year to tell the truth. Better bet would be Nichushkin getting moved.
I think you are being a bit unrealistic about how they deal with Landeskog and Nichushkin. Of course they would love to move the Nichushkin contract and just have Landeskog return when his cap hit doesn't count, but:
1. I'm not even sure Nichushkin can be traded until he is out of the players assistance program (that is how it works with LTIR, not totally sure about this though). If that is the case, that would mean his cap hit would apply at some point in the season, even if it was just for 1 day so you could trade him. To reiterate, I am not sure if this is the case, but I cannot find the answer when I look around online.
2. I don't think anyone is eager to trade for his contract. You'll need to attach good assets to move the contract. He also has a full NMC, so he could make it really hard for the team to trade him to a bottom-feeder who is willing to take the risk.
3. You can't just push back Landeskog's return until the playoffs because you feel like it. Landeskog left the door open for that, but he can't just show up when he feels like it, because that is cap circumvention. The league has made it clear at least to me that they allow for some wiggle room, but if he is healthy enough to play in December, I can't imagine the league allows him to sit out for 4 more months.