Why do we need to move Laine at all? I do not see the point at all, let alone spending nearly nine million in retention to do so.

More of a thought exercise in the event the new GM wants to clear up cap. I don’t think you need to move him due to the short term even if you don’t like him.

Minnesota will decline. He's also coming off being in the NHL player's assistance program and has to prove himself. Lower the pick and we can talk. Guerin might not be interested just because he seeks player's that play more of a complete two-way game.

The Elvis move is fine, but I'm not convinced it's better than a buyout.

The estimate cap floor for next year is $64,700,000 per CapFriendly itself. I get this isn't a complete roster and there's still all the RFAs to sign, but there's absolutely zero reason for this team to be paying to move contracts.

And moving Laine at all while his value is this low will almost certainly bite us unless we're getting an overpay, or heavily-conditioned picks. Retaining half for 2 more years, while also retaining half on Merzlikins for the next 3, would be such a massive unforced error. ~$6M in dead cap on top of only 1 retention slot each of the next two years, when we're likely selling and retaining on Provorov to eat up the third this year, would be questionable at best.