Maybe if it's before July 1st, and the Kings can buyout Marleau so he can sign with a contender, this might make a little sense actually.

The "Post July 1" was referring to the Zaitsev to Ottawa trade.
Zaitsev is owed a big signing bonus July 1. OTT would be able to use his contract to help get to the floor, with Melnyuk having to actually pay him less.

Marleau to LA is based off Lebrun's report that the two teams are talking about it.

Take Hainsey out, and you still have $5M to sign a top 4 RHD

OTT passes, they not trading their best RHD for crap, they can sign any UFA to 10m for 1 year to get over cap minimum.

Who tho?
Myers & Karlsson are getting more than $5M. After that the UFA class is underwhelming.

Keep the cap space for potential trade flexibility in season.

Maybe try Stralman on 2 year deal at 4 million

Marleau is on a 35+ contract. Kings don't get any cap relief for buying him out. There is zero incentive for them to do this.

It’s a way of getting Marleau to agree. He’s not going to play in la

If the Kings are trading for Marleau just to eat his cap hit and not have him on the roster, it's going to cost a whole lot more than Brown and a 4th. That would be over $10M in dead space on LA's roster once you factor in Kovalchuk's retention and Mike Richards' settlement.

dude you don't have to sell me. It's a crap idea that's never going to happen. This isn't my ACGM.