Karlsson hadn't talked to Ottawa management since November

[KingsFan7824]

Stats showed their good season was a mirage and they were lucky to get as far in the playoffs as they did.
The problem was that management ignored all that and went for it by trading for Duchene after having already lost Methot who was good at covering up a lot of Karlsson's mistakes
Now they have even a worse team, having lost Hoffman and Karlsson, and Anderson is a year older.
It will be a very long year in Ottawa.

A mirage is one thing, but they were about 4th in the East after the Duchene trade/trip to Sweden. They didn't start last year horribly. Maybe not great, maybe counting on OT wins a bit too much, but they weren't terrible. They got back from Sweden, lost 12 of the next 13, and never got up off the floor.