Buffalo won't trade for Hank to buy him out. If bought out they would likely jump at the chance to sign him though.

Sabres probably decline. The owners are pinching pennies this season. They probably don’t want to spend 3.5 on Lundqvist along with losing McCabe they are thin at LD and draft picks.

Andersson & Middlestat are basically a swap of the 2017 draft, i thought that would be fun.
McCabe is a UFA after 20/21 so i figured he was availabel, also not looking for NYR to acquire a LHD with that much term as they have K. Miller & Y.Ryckov in the wings as well.
Roberstson is a gem LHD but hes 2 years away from the NHL probably & has top 4 potential.
BUF has a ton of cap space, that's why i looked at them for this scenario & they move up 16 spots in the draft from #38 OA to #22 OA, that's really the value in this whole thing. And it would be 5.5 for 20/21 & 1.5 for 21/22 for HL's buyout..
Plus a new GM sometimes likes to make a splash, i guess getting Eric Staal was something of a splash ...

Rangers decline Buffalo and Anaheim trades without blinking an eye. Buffalo would decline as well.

I dont think Hank would waive for BUF and if that were the case where BUF wanted to keep him that's probably a different deal with 50% salary retention from NYR & Robertson is out as NYR isnt getting that full cap relief.

So basically, if you break it down, we would spend about 3.5m to jump from 38 to 22. Interesting, i dont think i would do it for that though. Maybe if it was 28 to 12, depending on our draft board.

It looks like they have a lot of cap space, but they just have a lot of RFA’s to core players. Maybe Ottawa or Detroit would be willing to buyout Hank, I just can’t see the Sabres doing it when they might not be able to afford their own players this offseason.

34.5 million in Cap space, yes BUF has 8 RFA's but i don't think they'll be pushing that 81.5 CAP unless they dive into the UFA market aggressively, which another way a new GM can make a splash.
I have seen some scenarios with DET & OTT so i figured BUF would be an interesting look.

Its a deep draft especially up front, at #22 there will be considerable high ceiling talent available.
SO yeah it would be 5.5 & 1,5 for the HL buyout, A LHD in the last year his contract & his 2.85 Cap hit, kind of a reclamation project of prospects with Andersson & Middlestat, a B+/A- LHD prospect & moving up 16 spots in the draft into the first round.

I get why a team would decline but its not as absurd as some of the things we see on this site.....