My point was that they didn’t need him on D. They already had Burns and Vlasic, EK was like TO picking up Tavares; not necessary.Not really.
At the time of the trade, San Jose had:
Tomas Hertl age 24
Timo Meier age 21
Evander Kane age 27
Kevin Labanc age 22
Logan Couture age 29
Karlsson was supposed to take over the superstar offensive catalyst role from Thornton, and the team was supposed to keep rolling.
It wasn't a team on its last legs. Obviously didn't work out how they envisioned, but they thought they had a core that'd compete for the next 5 years.
But there are no guarantees. We acquired DeBrincat thinking we'd be in the mix. Instead, we're in 27th.
The difference with us acquiring DBC this time, is that we have a lot of runway to decide if we want to sign him or trade him.
It’s not a knock on EK, it was just a huge trade for a player that didn’t fill a position of need. It’s like us looking add another star LD, we just don’t need that position filled.