News Article: What did the Senators get out of trading EK65

[BatherSeason]

They got out of paying that smiling leprechaun, big bucks...

Not sure we need to resort to the name calling, Karlsson did fantastic things for this organization, not sure why so many people have to downplay and call him a leprechaun just to try to get a point across.

Stutzle and Norris have yet to make an impact in the league, so declaring a winner and fighting this hard about it is a tad premature. Maybe let's wait to see if Karl rebounds, or what happens with Norris/Stutzle.

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

Not sure we need to resort to the name calling, Karlsson did fantastic things for this organization, not sure why so many people have to downplay and call him a leprechaun just to try to get a point across.

Stutzle and Norris have yet to make an impact in the league, so declaring a winner and fighting this hard about it is a tad premature. Maybe let's wait to see if Karl rebounds, or what happens with Norris/Stutzle.

Pretty hypocritical considering people do the same for lesser players, coaches, and management. People can say whatever they want.

 

[BatherSeason]

Pretty hypocritical considering people do the same for lesser players, coaches, and management. People can say whatever they want.

So you think it's ok to name call a player that has had such an impact on this franchise? Classy.

What did Karlsson do wrong to be treated like shit here?

He played hard every night, won two Norris trophies and carried a team to the ECF. I think he deserves better than being called a leprechaun. It's actually kind of a shame that he is so disrespected by many Sens fans for no reason really.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

So you think it's ok to name call a player that has had such an impact on this franchise? Classy.

What did Karlsson do wrong to be treated like shit here?

He played hard every night, won two Norris trophies and carried a team to the ECF. I think he deserves better than being called a leprechaun. It's actually kind of a shame that he is so disrespected by many Sens fans for no reason really.

I think it's a lighthearted jab at the great one. Everyone loves the time we had with EK. I doubt he was meaning any disrespect.

He is more of a pirate than a leprechaun.

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

So you think it's ok to name call a player that has had such an impact on this franchise? Classy.

What did Karlsson do wrong to be treated like shit here?

He played hard every night, won two Norris trophies and carried a team to the ECF. I think he deserves better than being called a leprechaun. It's actually kind of a shame that he is so disrespected by many Sens fans for no reason really.

No I don’t, don’t put words in my mouth. I don’t think it’s cool. but other people do that all the time to players who aren’t as good. Why do they deserve it? If they can say stuff about lesser players people can say whatever they want about karlsson. It’s free speech. Im not saying I’m one of them, but many people don’t like karlsson the person (more so in his earlier years), not karlsson the player.

Also you might be taking

 

[Sweatred]

So you think it's ok to name call a player that has had such an impact on this franchise? Classy.

What did Karlsson do wrong to be treated like shit here?

He played hard every night, won two Norris trophies and carried a team to the ECF. I think he deserves better than being called a leprechaun. It's actually kind of a shame that he is so disrespected by many Sens fans for no reason really.

EK was an amazing player for the Sens. Everyone knows that. He also publicly stated he wanted he wanted max cash and would do what it takes to get that. Forcing an x8 year deal at $11.5 US forced the Sens to overpay for an injured, aging superstar outside the teams competitive window or face the circus of trading him.

He choose money over all else which he is allowed to do.

 

[Micklebot]

No I don’t, don’t put words in my mouth. I don’t think it’s cool. but other people do that all the time to players who aren’t as good. Why do they deserve it? If they can say stuff about lesser players people can say whatever they want about karlsson. It’s free speech. Im not saying I’m one of them, but many people don’t like karlsson the person (more so in his earlier years), not karlsson the player.

Also you might be taking

I think the point was more about name calling once he's gone. It's one thing to call Ceci gabage while he was here and continue to do so while he skated with the Leafs, it's another to praise Alfie as a god while here only to call him krusty the clown once he signed with the Wings. Same thing goes with Karlsson, at least thats how i see it. I don't trash Chara for leaving or Hossa for getting traded either. Hossa wanted what he was worth, we didn't want to pay it so he was traded. Same thing with Chara, only he was UFA. Is Karlsson's situation that different?

 

[Sweatred]

I think the point was more about name calling once he's gone. It's one thing to call Ceci gabage while he was here and continue to do so while he skated with the Leafs, it's another to praise Alfie as a god while here only to call him krusty the clown once he signed with the Wings. Same thing goes with Karlsson, at least thats how i see it. I don't trash Chara for leaving or Hossa for getting traded either. Hossa wanted what he was worth, we didn't want to pay it so he was traded. Same thing with Chara, only he was UFA. Is Karlsson's situation that different?

We traded Hossa (after we signed him) because we thought Heatley was better.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Nope. Because it was poorly telegraphed, his value was tanked in the media because it became apparent that we had to trade him, and because you're assigning to genius what I assign to avarice. We clearly disagree here and I'm not upset with how the trade turned out. But I still hate the trade because it didn't have to happen the way it did, and the damage it did to the fanbase's trust was significantly more than it needed to be.

So it’s easy to sit back, and take shots at the GM, over how he handled a trade. However most of us who do this don’t take into consideration what we don’t know, but the GM does know, such as internal issues between players/players and management/agents and GM and other issues that never reach the media and fans.

With that in mind, could you attempt to clarify your opinion, by explaining what you might have done differently to mitigate the “damage” you accuse the GM of doing.

 

[Micklebot]

We traded Hossa (after we signed him) because we thought Heatley was better.

We traded him because of the cap, no revisionist history here. We got a couple years of relief from that trade, and got a similar asset back, but don't fool yourself that was a money (cap) move.

"The reason we did the deal is it gives us more flexibility," Muckler said. "We have some other people who will have to be signed in future years and we had to put ourselves in a situation to do that. "And we had to do it also because of the talent level of the player we received."

 

[YouGotAStuGoing]

So it’s easy to sit back, and take shots at the GM, over how he handled a trade. However most of us who do this don’t take into consideration what we don’t know, but the GM does know, such as internal issues between players/players and management/agents and GM and other issues that never reach the media and fans.

With that in mind, could you attempt to clarify your opinion, by explaining what you might have done differently to mitigate the “damage” you accuse the GM of doing.

So, hold up. We don't know everything going on behind the scenes, that's true. I don't pretend to know everything going on behind the scenes, nor have I ever claimed to have more of an understanding of what happened than anyone else. Nor is it my job, for that matter. How can you then ask me to use this information that we don't have to clarify my already pretty clear opinion?

Forgive me if I don't get down into a Five-Step Plan to Improve the Optics. I'm not a general manager. I'm also not a helicopter pilot... but if I see a helicopter landed on a helipad with a ton of damage to its skids from having hit trees on the way there, I can still call a spade a spade and say the helicopter may have landed, but dude f***ed up in getting there. Doesn't take an expert in the field to acknowledge that the fanbase's enthusiasm took a real hit through it all and that's where the core of the issue with the trade lies.

 

[c_mak]

The reason the package was heavily disliked was mostly because it was an emotional response to trading an all-star captain in his prime and all the bad press there was around Melnyk. Teams usually don't do trade players like that, particularly at that age.

Personally, I found the package not bad at all but didn't like the fact that we were not getting any D-men of value (was not expecting anything out of DeMelo). I guess I was higher on Norris and Balcers than most. I also saw the Sharks starting to decline in a near future so that 1st could have ended high enough (didn't expect 3rd OA though)

Also, I think the EK return will be much better than what we gave up to Colorado for Duchene.

But the first thing to note is that Duchene basically had 2 years left. Karlsson had 1 year left going on UFA.

Stuetzle > Byram (value of the 3rd OA pick in 2020 much better than 4th OA in 2019)
Balcers > Bowers
2nd > 3rd
Norris + Tierney + 2nd + DeMelo (then became a 3rd) > Turris

The Avs got a pretty good return for Turris as Nashville overpaid (which proved to be a mistake to sign him long term)

I have to agree. The Duchenne deal is viewed, by me as worse because it didn't work out at all. As you put it in more of a vacuum without the team results being relative to the to years Duchenne was here Ottawa did flip wth for a first rounder which, Lass Thompson who may be something he may not.

The way Karlson left, was treated after the great run to the Semis is/was not very good. Its too bad that Ottawa (Melnyk) only seems to know one way to move on from players, angrily ugly and messy.

Maybe Melnyk is really a sensitive guy, maybe All star Danny Hatley broke his heart and he's never been the same again

 

[Sweatred]

We traded him because of the cap, no revisionist history here. We got a couple years of relief from that trade, and got a similar asset back, but don't fool yourself that was a money (cap) move.

I will 100% disagree with that. The Sens saved $1.5 million on the trade. If you need $1.5 there are 1000 different ways to do it than trading one of your best players that you JUST signed.

 

[Micklebot]

I will 100% disagree with that. The Sens saved $1.5 million on the trade. If you need $1.5 there are 1000 different ways to do it than trading one of your best players that you JUST signed.

Ok, so you 100% disagree with the man who made the trade. Congrats.

 

[Dan Patrick]

Is it not possible the trade was made because Karlsson asked for the most money ever by a defencemen (fair enough for him to do so) and management looked at his injury history, talked to team doctors and realized that there was a good chance Karlsson would never be 100% again and maybe would never be 80% again?

I feel like we are completely ignoring Karlsson's injury history when we talk about why management wasn't willing to give him his monster contract.

 

[Back in Black]

You guys forget the "Leprauchaun" was a minus 25 in his last year here, and stopped back checking, yet wanted a big payout. He's a career minus 45 player

I'll give him credit for playing on a crappy team, but was a defensive liability. Yet, he flashed that pretty boy smile, and all was good with the fanboys.

>>>>>> Erik Karlsson Stats | Hockey-Reference.com

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

You guys forget the "Leprauchaun" was a minus 25 in his last year here, and stopped back checking, yet wanted a big payout. He's a career minus 45 player

I'll give him credit for playing on a crappy team, but was a defensive liability. Yet, he flashed that pretty boy smile, and all was good with the fanboys.

>>>>>> Erik Karlsson Stats | Hockey-Reference.com

Embarrassing post. The guy gave us his all when we had nothing but trash. When we had an average roster he put up one of the best post-season performances by a defender since Pronger ~10 years ago, and one of the best all-time... on one leg.

He even delayed possibly getting traded until last second cause he wanted to still stay here. I salute you, captain EK.

 

[Micklebot]

You guys forget the "Leprauchaun" was a minus 25 in his last year here, and stopped back checking, yet wanted a big payout. He's a career minus 45 player

I'll give him credit for playing on a crappy team, but was a defensive liability. Yet, he flashed that pretty boy smile, and all was good with the fanboys.

>>>>>> Erik Karlsson Stats | Hockey-Reference.com

Doughty is a minus 50 over the last two years compared to Karlsson's minus 9 over the same span, but people forget what a defensive liability Doughty is...

 

[branch]

Embarrassing post. The guy gave us his all when we had nothing but trash. When we had an average roster he put up one of the best post-season performances by a defender since Pronger ~10 years ago, and one of the best all-time... on one leg.

He even delayed possibly getting traded until last second cause he wanted to still stay here. I salute you, captain EK.

The revisionist history going on here is gross. People slandering EK were the first posters in the GDT slobbering all over when he had a good game, which was WAY more often than not.

 

[BatherSeason]

Is it not possible the trade was made because Karlsson asked for the most money ever by a defencemen (fair enough for him to do so) and management looked at his injury history, talked to team doctors and realized that there was a good chance Karlsson would never be 100% again and maybe would never be 80% again?

I feel like we are completely ignoring Karlsson's injury history when we talk about why management wasn't willing to give him his monster contract.

It's absolutely possible, but the circus that surrounded the trade shows that there were many other factors involved.

It's ok to like the trade while still acknowledging all the positive Karlsson did while he was here.

The smear campaign has always been so bizarre. Almost like there is a hidden agenda.

 

[BatherSeason]

EK was an amazing player for the Sens. Everyone knows that. He also publicly stated he wanted he wanted max cash and would do what it takes to get that. Forcing an x8 year deal at $11.5 US forced the Sens to overpay for an injured, aging superstar outside the teams competitive window or face the circus of trading him.

He choose money over all else which he is allowed to do.

If that was the case, so be it. No need to smear the guy after all the exciting hockey he gave us. Unfortunately the org created this bizarre division amongst the fanbase where a portion of the fan base completely discredits everything he did there in order to defend Melnyk/Dorion.

 

[TeamRenzo]

The revisionist history going on here is gross. People slandering EK were the first posters in the GDT slobbering all over when he had a good game, which was WAY more often than not.

Agreed.

Prime EK was one of the best players in the league, EK in the 2017 playoffs was the best player in the league. I was sad when he left and he will always be one of my all time favorite Sens.

 

[thinkwild]

EK saying im going to get what im worth I see as similar to him saying that he’s going to breathe normally next year. This idea that any player is going to say: sure, ill take $2mil a year less than fair market value so our owner can come in under the cap and the fans can feel they are winning the cost per point Cup, is really out there.

The Rangers announced to their fans that they were tearing down and rebuilding without worrying about lowering the trade value of their players. Come on, signing Stone to a 1 yr contract? Who did they think they were fooling? Pretty sure a majority polled here weren’t buying it. Nor im sure did any other GM.

They told us they were doing everything to sign all these players because they wanted to play it down, to fool us into continuing to buy season tickets and then claim they tried their hardest but now are forced by greedy players to rebuild. But they knew they were tearing down for money reasons. If they were tearing down to maximize a rebuild they failed spectacularly at that. That strategy would have been executed quite differently.

They lucked into a good pick and are now trying to tell us they planned this all along. Riiight. I’m cheering for the team, but my confidence in ownership isn’t restored by this.

I remember posting here before EK was traded that you could make a good case for a small market team, at the cap and in the basement, to sell off and rebuild. With Stone and Karlsson I said it wouldn’t have been my preference, but I could accept the logic had they tried to present a tough but solid plan saying that this difficult decision was actually the best and fastest way back to contending for a small market. They didn’t have the guts for honesty. Lets see a cost benefit analysis. Was lying to us more profitable and better for the team? Did it create more or less #MelnykOut signs?

 

[Oriole]

Is it not possible the trade was made because Karlsson asked for the most money ever by a defencemen (fair enough for him to do so) and management looked at his injury history, talked to team doctors and realized that there was a good chance Karlsson would never be 100% again and maybe would never be 80% again?

I feel like we are completely ignoring Karlsson's injury history when we talk about why management wasn't willing to give him his monster contract.

That is entirely possible. The appropriate course of action for some around here is for management to step up to a podium and announce this to all the fans. After all, they pay for tickets. They deserve to know! This also gives them the opportunity to crap on the management team when they only get a B prospect and 2nd rounder for him.

 

[Oriole]

So, hold up. We don't know everything going on behind the scenes, that's true. I don't pretend to know everything going on behind the scenes, nor have I ever claimed to have more of an understanding of what happened than anyone else. Nor is it my job, for that matter. How can you then ask me to use this information that we don't have to clarify my already pretty clear opinion?

Forgive me if I don't get down into a Five-Step Plan to Improve the Optics. I'm not a general manager. I'm also not a helicopter pilot... but if I see a helicopter landed on a helipad with a ton of damage to its skids from having hit trees on the way there, I can still call a spade a spade and say the helicopter may have landed, but dude f***ed up in getting there. Doesn't take an expert in the field to acknowledge that the fanbase's enthusiasm took a real hit through it all and that's where the core of the issue with the trade lies.

You could still be very wrong in your assessment. What if that helicopter had an engine go down. Maybe that dude was a complete star for getting that bird to that helipad in one piece without killing everyone. Nice to know that you'll be there to crap on him though.