danielpalfredsson
youtube dot com /watch?v=CdqMZ_s7Y6k
- Aug 14, 2013
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They can't do that without his consent because he has a NMC.
Also, if they expose him - they shoot down their leverage. All of a sudden, Seattle knows how badly (in this hypothetical situation) they want to get rid of Karlsson and asks for a sweetener to take him. If Karlsson would go to Seattle, it might make more sense to try and negotiate a trade ahead of the expansion draft with Seattle giving assets and draft considerations to San Jose in exchange for San Jose exposing Karlsson.
Very few teams are going to take Karlsson right now because of the cap/term/perceived risk. This is coming from someone who doesn't believe the hype about him being past his prime. It's just not how the league operates. There's a reason that San Jose was able to acquire Karlsson without giving up any pieces that at the time (to quote a very patient GM) "sufficiently hurt" them. That reason is because Karlsson's injury troubles added a lot of risk to acquiring him.
The entire thing is a paradox because for Karlsson to be marketable as a trade piece, he would need another season or two where he plays close to his previous standard without getting hurt. But if he does that, San Jose would then have no reason to trade him.
If he gets dealt, it will be because San Jose has a change in management. If that happens, he'll get traded for pennies on the dollar because cap is an asset. Or, San Jose will take back some bad money. It doesn't help that there are very few teams that make logical sense as a destination.
The most logical destination might be Ottawa if there is an ownership/management change because it makes sense to assume that Karlsson would waive to go back to a city him and his wife consider one of their hometowns, and if the Senators add two top prospects in the draft this year, they would be loaded with assets to help turn the corner on a rebuild. If there is any truth to the room being previously divided, almost everybody else who Karlsson interacted will then be gone. Although I'd imagine that even with new management, if Ottawa ends up getting a top 3 pick from San Jose, there's no chance from a PR perspective that the Sharks could go and trade Karlsson back to Ottawa for a soft return, it would just look too bad.
Ultimately, there's no reason to expect the Sharks to move on from Karlsson. It makes no sense. If they for some insane reason do move on from him, they aren't getting back what they gave up. It will be too hard to move that contract with the perceived risks that come from it.
