I can understand the Luke Schenn aspect of it. They want some help on the back end. Personally, I think Schenn is shit, but I understand why they did it. Still cant understand in any way, shape, or form why they had ANY interest in Lecavalier. He is a has been and now they are stuck with him for the next 3 yrs. Lombardi is an idiot.
Well the Cap hit this year will actually occur, so $4.15M against this year, but that's it. You have two rentals for playoff depth. Sure Lecavalier retires this year, but that's an easy fix. Trade him and a 1st rounder to Arizona for their 2nd rounder. Maybe it's a 2nd - 3rd swap...What they drop maybe 15-20 picks to avoid 4 years of cap recapture. AZ gets a slightly better pick for doing absolutely nothing.
So now with that said...the trade will probably be Jordan Weal, 3rd rounder, swapped picks (pick your poison @ level) for 1 year playoff depth of Lecavalier and Schenn to go for the cup. Get the Cap off the books and resign Kopitar!
KEEP IN MIND...AZ traded for Pronger's cap hit in order to get a 3rd rounder...
***EDIT***guess the salary retention wasn't released yet...