1. Why would Marleau waive his NMC? I don't see Marleau being moved or "off the books" at all.
2. Even if Nylander signs a bridge deal, we won't be able to afford Gardiner.
3. I don't think Nylander will be traded. And even if he was, the cap savings we would get from a potential trade won't be enough to sign Gardiner.
1)
The Marleau thing has been debated to death so I'll assume you're familiar with the arguments. IMHO, the biggest thing in favour of there being some sort of handshake agreement in place is that the 3rd year of the contract is absolutely brutal and I find it hard to believe that our management was dumb enough to commit to that. If however they've agreed to an out after MArner has collected 17 out of 18 million, then it makes perfect sense. We'll see.
2)
That's not necessarily true and depends on what we're paying out elsewhere. Paying Willie say 4.7 instead of 6.7 helps though, that's all I'm saying. Maybe it comes down to us needing to find just a couple million in cap space somewhere in which case letting Brown go if that's what it takes to keep Jake would be an easy decision for me.
3)
I don't think he'll be traded either, I just mentioned it as a possibility and that it most certainly is. And we don't know what the cap saving would be and yes, they won't be "enough" but as in point #2, every little bit helps.
Bottom line - it's just wrong IMHO to say we can't sign Jake. Depending on some other things it may or may not be easy but I think it's definitely possible.