To clarify, he's an upcoming UFA meaning this has no implication on the expansion draft?
I had this clarified for me by MM. Assuming we don't extend him prior to the expansion process, Vegas will have a window to negotiate with him prior to the expansion draft. If they sign him to a contract, he counts as the player taken from our roster.
However, presumably Calgary can also negotiate during that time, so if he wants to stay in Calgary, he would have that option by waiting it out and signing after the expansion draft.
Agreed. There's also funny talks about the risk of expansion circumvention which IMO is easily avoided. My understanding is that this is for teams that finish a contract prior to the draft and delay signing it to avoid the exposure risk. Treliving can easily bypass this by establishing where Stone's camp number and duration request is, stating what the Flames are willing to offer and not bothering with further contract talks until after Vegas chats with Stone. Stone can chat with Vegas' offer in mind and decide for himself. Pardon the pun, but as long as the contract isn't pretty much set in Stone, there's no issue.
Family/friend ties in Calgary and history in this city can easily explain why he'd sign in Calgary over Vegas even with similar contract offers. If there is legitimate reason why the two had not come to an agreement prior to Vegas chats, there is not risk of penalization IMO (ie: NTC vs no NTC). Heck, don't bother printing a contract if that's the case.
Oh I understand rehabbing on the fly, but a lot of posters are making this deal out to solving all the problems on the backend and it simply won't, until he's 100% at least. Like you say, the only risk is offering him a contract if he's not 100% by the end of the season. He's a $4 million man right now, so even if we can sign him for $3 million, it's still risky. I'd hate to end up paying Engelland's replacement $3 million, if he doesn't fully recover.
Personally, I wouldn't have too many issues offering Egg's contract to Stone. 3x3 no NTC for a young 4/5 dman isn't bad (even if you have concerns on his knee). I think at max, I'd offer him Mason Raymond's contract (Slight pay bump and a partial NTC). He still exits the contract at a good age, gets stability and we get a good contract with low risk. But... perhaps if we hope not to jinx ourselves and repeat history, 2 years instead of 3 might be a better option if include NTC?