If I’m the Hawks, I would want to make sure Lehner’s contract is covered by insurance, otherwise the deal is not worth the cash payout.

Insurance was a good point. I do think from the LVK point if view. It would be nice to accrue cap space during the year for another run. That'll go a long way and hopefully McCrimmon learned from JBB's mistake. That's why he needed to pay through the nose on Jeannot. Be forewarned that might be the cost for an acquisition come TDL if the LVK keep him.

Swapping dollars for draft capital is always a good move IMO, but the insurance issue would be the key here. Lehner is owed $10.5m actual money and I think that's a lot for a future 2nd. That said, if this deal happened I wouldn't hate it. Draft picks are good.

Great point on insurance. Not sure Myself. But I think Vegas is actually in an OK position because it really just comes down to if they want to pay the cost of moving. He can sit on LTIR for them if they want, and they could easily send Pachal through waivers and sign a true 4th C, up to 1.5 million or so then if they wanted.

Can you explain insurance to me? Is it simply that insurance pays his salary or a portion?

I think if you’re under the cap and can put him on LTIR at beginning of season then keep your assets.

My understanding is some contracts are covered by the insurance company, while others may not be depending several factors but most notable is a players injury history.

Obviously a player who’s contract is not covered by insurance is more difficult to move because the money now comes out of he acquiring teams pockets.

The advantage of being under and then trading him, is you accumulate cap space all season long. So you can makes deals at the deadline and lower those costs because you don’t need retention.

This roster was a full 23 man roster. If I could trade Lehner, and then send Pachal to AHL, that puts them 1.5 million under with 22 guys.

That 1.5 on opening day, is probably worth like 4-5 million on TDL depending on season injuries.