To cap off the end to a bizarre offseason, Erik Karlsson has been traded to the San Jose Sharks. After all the drama surrounding Ottawa and Karlsson it almost seems surreal to see this trade finally come to fruition. Ottawa is now in full rebuild mode and I still can't wrap my head around the situation.
There are a few things on want to hit on tonight, first off one peculiar element of the trade. Erik Karlsson will be a free agent at the end of the season and one of the stipulations of the deal is that if Karlsson signs with an Eastern Conference team next season, Ottawa gets an additional first round draft pick. I don't think I've ever seen a clause in a trade like this before. You often see a clause that grants a bonus if the player signs with the team they get traded to but I don't think I've ever seen a punishment for the player signing with a different team.
Second, I was shocked to hear he was traded to San Jose after their previous trade this summer. I've posted before regarding the Hoffman/Karlsson feud in Ottawa. Basically Karlsson's wife had accused Hoffman's girlfriend of cyberbullying, the end result was Hoffman getting traded to San Jose. Hoffman was a Shark for only a few minutes as he was promptly traded to Florida. The crazy part of that deal was San Jose getting more back from Florida than they gave Ottawa. Ottawa seems fixated on refusing to deal with teams in their conference and as a result San Jose really fleeced them on the deal and then turned around and sold Hoffman at a higher price.
Third, with Ottawa in full rebuild mode, liquidating the roster with no regard for the current season, someone needs to remind them that they don't have a first round pick this season. That pick was traded to Colorado last year in the Matt Duchene trade. Ottawa had the option to forfeit either this years pick or next years. Since they ended up selecting fourth overall they kept the draft pick. Well now they automatically lose next years pick and it most likely will be 4th overall or higher. With a major franchise player coming into next years draft, things could get even worse in Ottawa.
This trade feels huge for San Jose. I have no idea how they have all their players under the salary cap but it feels like a bit of wizardry by their GM Doug Wilson. I look at how horribly the cap has been managed in Edmonton and seeing have many all-star players they have packed into that roster, I cry a little. My Edmonton Oiler's are in the same division as the Sharks and I don't think we stand a chance against them this year.
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