I’m not sure Lou would give up a first round pick. I think he’d buy Boychuk’s contract down to 3M-4M and add prospects. But definitely the right idea here.

So using the buyout calculator tool on this website (you can too), Boychuk’s buyout cap hit is still at $5,166,667 for two years and then $416,667 for the two years following that. Not sure where the 3M-4M numbers came from.
But I agree, maybe he finds a way to manipulate things and not give up a high draft choice. But also, the deeper NYI get into the playoffs, the more I could see Lou pay to dump Boychuck to help keep it going