So you want to give Palat significantly less than he made on his old contract? If I was him I’d be ****ing insulted.

Pally would be my favorite bolt of all time if he signed that

Total contract value could still be greater than a higher priced short-term contract (+ hypothetical follow-up deal) that he's currently projected to get.
Give him full trade protection.
Gets to finish career with Kucherov and team that drafted him.

And not everything is about money, contrary to popular belief.

Be interesting to see if the NHL allowed that buyout. They said that Edmonton wouldn't get any kind of cap credit if Keith retired.

I absolutely agree. And I honestly think he will stay. But it's no secret he could make much more on the open market: it really just comes down to Palat's priorities (4.5 million ain't a shabby pay day either)

Is the NHL allowed to interfere with a buyout? I've never seen that before.

Retirements are a weird matter, especially when it's one of those dinosaur contracts like Keith has that cannot be signed today.
It's their math. It's all backloaded as salary and not bonuses, so they should have no issue with it.

Not the buyout but maybe the credit.