Don’t see why SJ does this. Karlsson has been great this year and they move him for two awful wingers for little cap relief? I guess they save a bit earlier but trading Karlsson retained for a positive package seems better than this

-San Jose can buy out Gallagher and Hoffman for 19.67M.
-As of 23-24 Karlsson is owed 46 million.
-That is a net cap gain of over 26 million.
-Additionally, the structure of the buyouts give San Jose more flexibility in the short term since Gallagher's buyout costs almost nothing in the first two seasons (792k, -208k).
-They are trading for the cap. As we have seen with cap dump trades, the value of the cap is so high that teams rarely get assets. A 2nd in this case is probably even too much.
-Karlsson is having a strong start to his season, but is turning 33, has a sordid injury history, and has 4 years of term left. Montreal gets the better player, but they compensate San Jose by taking on an incredibly amount of cap liability.
-Karlsson would waive for Montreal. Neither team are a contender, but one team is 1-2 hours away from Ottawa. Erik Karlsson and his family still choose to live in Ottawa.
-We will assume that San Jose isn't one of the 6 teams on Gallagher's no-trade list.

They receive 20 million in cap relief. Not only that, the cap is structured over 8 years, which makes the cap burden much smaller.

Their current build is not working. They need to rebuild. They are getting lucky with Karlsson having a strong start to his season. 2 teams were interested in the summer, but we don't know the context. Look at the Burns trade. They got almost nothing for Burns, and they had to retain 34 percent of his contract. Burns had only 3 years left (Karlsson had 4). Burns had a lower cap hit. Burns is older than Karlsson, but is also more durable and doesn't have the same injury history.

Karlsson's NMC will limit what they can do.

Cap is also an asset. This frees up about 10 million next year, and 10 million after that. That opens them up to possibly signing a free agent. Or to take advantage of the buyer's market like Ottawa and LAK did to get a star for pennies on the dollar (asset wise). Or to take cap dumps for assets, like we have seen multiple teams do. They very well could end up with 2-4 more 2nd round picks by leveraging that 20 million in cap.

The only reason not to go for it, would be if they still do not want to rebuild.

How does it open up 10M in cap next year? Unless I’m missing something

Net cap gain of 26 mil and severely lower the talent on this team. It’s a horrible trade for San Jose

Sharks say no way Jose!

Karlsson 11.5M out x 4 years
Gallagher+Hoffman Buyout = 1.96 in year 1, 1.46 in year 2, 2.292 in years 3-8.

Karlsson has been incredibly inconsistent over the last few seasons due to injuries and overall decline. He has been fantastic in short spurts, including the start of this season. It is unrealistic to expect him to maintain that level of play.

If they can get out of the contract and also buy themselves about 20M over 23-24 and 24-25 to leverage for additional assets, that could go a long way to kickstart a rebuild or a more effective re-tool.

Cap is an asset. While the cap is set to possibly go up more next season than it has in many years, teams are still going to be cap strapped until we see the big rise that is expected in a few seasons. Gaining major short term cap will put San Jose in a position to leverage that cap for assets via either trade, free agency, or taking cap dumps. While 2.292M on the books in years 3-8 of the Gallagher buyout would not be ideal, because there is a major rise expected in the cap in a few years, 2.292 will represent a smaller chunk of the salary cap than it does now.

I may be wrong but I have the feeling that Gallagher wouldn't be trade and will end is NHL time with Montreal only and retire as an one franchise player.

I won't be again to dump Hoffman but not sure taking Karlsson is ideal..

I take credit for the reverse jinx.