What about this?
-Lucic is buyout proof for EDM due to his signing bonus. CAR apparently wants more toughness.
-CAR sends Rask to EDM for a late round pick+Future considerations @ the draft
-EDM buys out Victor Rask (4M AAV x 4 years/25 years old) prior to June 30th, they take a cap penalty of roughly 666k for the next eight seasons.
-After July 1st (or whenever Lucic is paid his 3.5M signing bonus), Lucic waives his NTC to be sent to CAR. CAR gives EDM a late pick. EDM retains roughly 1.33M which is roughly 22.7 percent of Lucic's cap hit.
-After his bonus is paid, Lucic is owed 22.5M spread out over the next five years. EDM retaining covers almost 5M of this remaining salary, meaning CAR only owes Lucic 17.5M over the next 5 seasons, which is a real money AAV of 3.5M. CAR effectively pays Lucic a lower salary than they were paying Rask, with the only caveat being Lucic is signed 1 year longer.
-EDM walks away with roughly 2M on the books for the next five seasons, and then roughly 666k on the books for three more seasons after that. A financial obligation that is LESS than what a Lucic buyout would have been if he had no signing bonuses. In turn, EDM frees up about 4M worth of cap for the next five seasons, a significant amount considering Lucic is buyout proof and has a full NMC.