What were you offers for Karlsson retained down to 5m?
Okay I say this with the caveat that I OVER-offered cause it's the mains. If you try to fleece on the mains, you get instant nos and zero consideration or dialogue.
My offer was this:
For EK65 @ $5M for 2 1/2 years:
2026 first-round pick (From the Oilers)
2025 second-round pick (From the Blues)
2025 third-round pick (From the Blues)
Beau Akey (Good Trending 2nd Round Pick Prospect)
Troy Stecher (Decent RH 3rd Pair PMD)
And for the retention, based on the costs to dump Walman and Ceci this year, an additional:
2026 second-round pick (From the Oilers)
2026 third-round pick (From the Oilers)
I think the additional 2026 second and third could be taken out of the deal altogether
This would give us EK65, a 2 Time Norris Winner on our 2nd pair for the next two years @ 5M. His skating is still 99th percentile in the League THIS year, so I am not worried about drop off in ability for the length of this contract.
The offer above was an instant yes by Pens fans. And one saying Dubas would probably take less. And he would, consider that this is what Dubas paid for EK65 in the first place without retention:
Pittsburgh sent:
2024 first-round pick
Mikael Granlund (2x$5M Cap Dump)
Jan Rutta (2x$2.75M Cap Dump)
Mike Hoffman (1x$4.75 Cap Dump)
2025 Second-round pick to Montreal
Legare to Montreal (Nothing prospect)
DeSmith to Montreal (Backup Goalie)
Pittsburgh got EK65 @ $10M + Third Round Pick + Pitlick (Nothing Prospect) + Hamuliak (Nothing Prospect).
Dubas comes out ahead by flipping Karlsson. He gets a net 2 3rd Round Picks, Akey, Stecher Plus was able to dump 3 cap dumps on the Sharks without paying.