Regardless of the reports, if he retires now, the $24M is spread out over 5 years. With current cap space, Preds certainly don't have to pay a 1st to avoid it. 3 or 4 players wouldn't be lost.

OTT declines.

To dump Byron costs 2nd+3rd

You can move the picks back if you retain

Oh man. Seems like there are two things you don’t understand here. 1 is how recapture penalties work. 2. Is how LTIR works.
1. Players get career ending injuries all the time. When it happens, they go on what is known as long term injured reserve. Current example would be seabrook. Other examples would be hossa, savard, pronger, zetterberg.
2. Recapture penalties happen regardless of what team the player is on. There is zero benefit to to Nashville trading a pick for Weber.

You can LMAO all you want, but you’re very wrong about what’s going on here.

Big time pic.twitter.com/SiKD99Qq70

— Matt Britton (@ThunderingEIk) July 22, 2021

"The final column represents the cap hit for Nashville after the AAV is paid each year until 2026.

Yes, this change is a welcome one that—if ratified—would remove the $24.5 million Sword of Damocles hanging above Nashville’s salary cap, but it does instead expose them to salary cap trouble longer, potentially until the 2029-2030 season.

The many proposed ways Nashville could seek to eliminate the recapture penalty, such as trading for Weber if and when he plans to retire and placing him on LTIR, are still in play, as the contract will still have a tremendous impact going forward. Still, let’s hope it doesn’t come down to that."

- ontheforecheck.com

So yes, you are correct but it can be more complicated than how you put it