They still have to pay him in real dollars on LTIR. I don't think a legitimate source has said whether his contract is insured or not, whether the shoulder is a pre-existing condition, and if insured what percentage is the team still on the hook for if he either misses significant time in a future season or in a worst case scenario LTIRetires after another shoulder surgery.
There has already been a lot of discussion about the rising cap vs the falling Canadian dollar and how it might influence the choices made by teams. A team doesn't need to be a MelnykBucks team to have concerns over salary relative to the player. This wouldn't be us not wanting to pay a franchise player top money, this would be us moving a player that we project to maybe be our 5th or 6th best forward next year who is making superstar money in real dollars and has legitimate durability concerns.
Norris makes 9.5/9.5/9.5/8.75 over the next four seasons, and whether you think Pinto or Greig would be a downgrade at 2C, I think it's close enough that it makes moving Norris more palatable. It wouldn't surprise me if the Greig extension was partly insurance against moving Norris, because once we move Norris, Greig's position of leverage would have increased. Having Greig cap controlled makes it a bit easier to move on from Norris.