The recapture if they retired (and never traded) would have been less of a cap hit than the buyouts were. There would also have been no dead cap for extra 4 years.
Parise/Suter recapture vs buyout cap hits
21-22 $5,538,462 x4 or $2,371,794 + $6,371,794 + 7,371,794 x2 + $833,333 x 4
22-23 $6,205,128 x 3 or $6,371,794 + 7,371,794 x2 + $833,333 x 4
23-24 $6,538,462 x 2 or $7,371,794 x2 + $833,333 x 4
25-25 $6,538,462 or $7,371,794 + $833,333 x 4
21-22 was the only season they "saved" any money, roughly $10.33m. $5m was spent on Goli, $2.25m on Kulikov, and had Rask eating up $4m. They traded Strum for a more expensive Jost and added MAF at the deadline and still ended up with $1.5m in cap space.