I don't think there is any chance Erkisson can be traded without giving up a premium asset (draft pick) to get someone to take on his contract. The only real options going forward are:
- Retirement - he has $6M in Salary and $14M in signing bonuses remaining on his contract. That's a lot to walk away from, so he could be willing to mail it in for another 4 years. There is no chance he will make that kind of money playing in Sweden.
- Bury him in the minors - his NMC becomes a NTC on July 1, so he is eligible to be sent to Utica. By burying him in the minors we save $1.025 in cap space (which is more than the buyout cap saving). This is the most logical approach, but I'm not sure this mgmt group has the pills to do it - they won't even healthy scratch him this year. Would Loui be willing to play out the remainder of his contract in the minors - being scratched often due to the veteran rule. At some point he will retire and return to Sweden.
- LTIR - maybe he could develop a Marian Hossa like skin rash or join Joffrey Lupul on Robidas Island, but I also doubt any of the parties involved would do this. They are not as cagey or ethically flexible as Lou Lamoriello - and for certain the league would punish the Canucks for this
- Buyout - unfortunately his contract is almost buyout proof. According to CapFriendly, the buyout cost would be $5.5M for the next 3 years, $3.5M in 2021-22 and then $500K for the next 4 years. So we would only get $500K in cap relief for the next 3 years, then $2.5M in the last year of his contract. Additionally you have to figure the cap hit of the player that replaces him. This could really hurt us in the 2 - 3 year range with Boeser, Stecher, Demko, Pettersson, etc. all being RFAs in the time frame.
There are other option - combinations. Bury him next season and buy him out the following season, etc., but in all buyout cases, the cap savings from a buyout are less than those from burying him, and if you send him to Utica long enough, he will retire at some point.
We do have to worry about cap space we have Boeser, Stecher, Pettersson, Demko etc. all hitting RFA in the next 3 to 4 seasons, and if Luongo retires in the next 4 years (likely) we will also have to absorb a massive cap hit for his recapture penalty (depending on when he retires - $2M over 4 years or up to $8.5M in the last year).