This trade is horrible for Edmonton you realize Edmonton can just buy campbell out at the end of the season and free up 3.9M in cap immediately this trade doesn’t make any sense

LMAO I just realized oilers are retaining 50% what horrendous unrealistic trade for Edmonton you must live in fantasy land

Buyout money is dead cap. Even $500k can make a big difference in flexibility, especially pro-rated at the deadline by accumulating space through the season.

This is much cheaper than offloading Campbell completely and returns opportunity cost over buying out his full contract.
There's also enough relief provided this season to upgrade your backup (perhaps more).

This trade is terrible though why would edmonton do this lmao doesn’t make any sense the only way this trade would be fair is if Edmonton isn’t retaining on campbell

Nobody is taking Campbell's full cap hit at that price.
It has merits if you take the time to consider it and look at the numbers.

This seems awful for Edmonton.

Oilers will just buy him out themselves. It really isn't that bad of a buyout

The difference between the normal buyout and the 50% buyout isn't big enough to justify losing a 1st IMO. I'd rather they just buy him out themselves.

More or less than the alternatives?

Multiple 1sts to move Campbell (assuming they can even find a partner)
Keep the 1st and lose valuable cap space with a buyout
Meet in the middle and trade one 1st for partial relief

Obviously nobody wants to pay to dump cap.
Once you're in this situation though, you have to do what it takes to prevent it from handicapping the team.

Have you looked at what Campbell's buyout is?

With the retention all this really does is save them from the last three years which are the lowest, if they were getting the Avs 2nd which the Habs have maybe there's an argument for it but as it's posted here I don't see it as a good move for Edmonton.

In this scenario the Oiler are paying a 1st and a good young player to only save an additional 650k next year, 1.15 million the next, and 1.3 million the next. In my opinion, not a single team values that much savings at the cost of a 1st and a young player, even the teams that are contending

The price would be fine if Campbell's contract included a bunch of bonuses in the following years that made his contract buyout proof but that isnt the case!

The bonuses are paid by the offseason and he will be bought out at 1.5M AAV. The Oilers arent paying anything to offload Campbell unless its a Chicago style shortsighted move ala Tyler Johnson where it only costs a 2nd rounder.

This!

Saving cap is fine in ALL in window but NOT at any cost. Cap space in the end whether you are tight at your limit or not is about buying assets. The Oilers arent offloading precious 1sts when they can be used to pay for guys like Ekholm who has been unbelievable and unlocked a lot of BouchBomb potential maybe quicker than otherwise.

It's only really the 1st for Campbell. Perhaps I should have left out the Kovacevic/Lavoie swap, but I see that as added value for Edmonton with his low cap hit and Lavoie not being a contributor for them.
The going rate for a $5-6M cap dump is a 1st. There may be a team willing to do it for less with it being spread out, but they would have to be closer to the beginning of a rebuild than Montreal.
Everyone wants to maximize their cap space during their contention window, so you ideally don't want any dead cap haunting you through those years.

Each $1 saved on the cap is worth ~$4 at the deadline, so the difference between a buyout at 100/50% next season is $650k/$2.6M, or an extra $1.95M for deadline moves.
Converseley, the team sharing that cap penalty (Montreal) would have $1.95M less at the deadline.
For a team that doesn't project to be a buyer (Montreal) there's less of an impact, but for a team that intends to add and compete every year that impact can be significant.

It's fair to debate whether that is worth it. I'm only saying not to dismiss the significance of the idea because it doesn't look particularly beneficial at a glance.
There's more to consider than what might be immediately apparent. It's not simply paying a 1st to save a minimal amount of money.

Interesting concept at least. Don't think the value is there for Edmonton though.

That's all, just a little different idea.
Wasn't able to think of any comparable moves with term contracts.