Only a third to get Kessel? Seems kind of low? The problem is that we cannot re-sign him afterward unless he takes a similar contract/less money. There is no cap space with pending Sharks free agents next off season.

For comparison, Schmidt was had for a 3rd, twice. Reason being? Expensive contract in a flat cap world despite being very good contributors.

If Kane is gone Kessel fills the goal-scoring void for the same price. And, who says we wanna re-sign him?? The point is that the contract expires and we don't need to re-sign him.

Who you got replacing Kane/Kessel afterward? Kessel as a rental kind of sucks too especially since I don't think we should be touching the playoffs any time soon. Just my opinion, but I suppose if this is a push to get into the playoffs, a Kane replacement would be necessary if he gets terminated.

Would someone like Eklund be ready to replace Kane/Kessel?

Yes. Eklund, Bordeleau, Ozzy, Guschin, etc... Any one of those guys could make the cut in training camp next year. Hell! I wouldn't be surprised to see Eklund and Bordeleau get into the lineup in March/April!

Besides, if Kessel's a fit there's no reason he couldn't sign a 1-2yr deal for like $4-5M/yr

But unlike Vegas and to a lesser extent Vancouver, Arizona has 0 reason to move Kessel for cap purposes. I’m sure they’d rather eat some salary at the deadline and trade him for significantly more than what’s here.

They wouldn't move him for typical cap purposes, they'd move him to make room for taking on another bad, expensive contract and it's accompanying tranche of picks. Which would make for a much bigger haul than what Kessel might bring in at the deadline.