Good point. Maybe the rift in the locker room didn’t start until after he got that huge contract. I don’t know. Like I said earlier, I don’t like him so maybe that’s clouding my judgment.
I don't think DW trades for Karlsson with the expressed intent to re-sign him a year before he expires if he isn't already clearly indicating that re-signing Pavelski was at the very least not the top priority...if it ever was one at all. We all saw that even with Pavs producing, he was out of place at evens. And really, the only reason he was producing was because of the team's stubbornness with making Burns and then Karlsson the primary focus of the system offensively.
I can absolutely see there being friction in the locker room over Pavs' departure. Him and Burns were very close by most accounts. They don't even make it past Vegas if he was just another guy getting hurt in game 7 so he very likely meant a lot to a lot of guys in there. But winning cures all in a locker room and at the end of the day, our GM didn't do enough to assure that they adequately replaced the talent they lost up front.
And if some sources are to be trusted around here, this rift happened before the Karlsson contract. I think it lines up with it being when Kane's contract was signed but honestly, they didn't start handing these contracts out until Burns got his but that coincided with the shift in ownership being more Hasso's than a group thing. And if Pavs is upset at any of that regardless, he needed to go because that sort of jealousy is not good for the room anyway. And anyone in that locker room that sides with Pavs on how he feels needs to go as well but who the hell knows who that could be.