I imagine both marner and Karlsson use their NMCs

And I don't like it for toronto

SJS declines.

Kerfoot and Engvall have no value to SJS as pending UFAs.
They'd get more in return trading EK65, Reimer and Meier individually.

No one is paying for Karlsson's dead weight contract. Meier won't get as much as anyone thinks. His QO makes his next contract dicey at best. Marner is the best player by a wide margin, this isn't a good trade for them both long term and short term

EK65 is still an elite offensive defenseman
https://twitter.com/JFreshHockey/status/1589013836073684992?s=20&t=FwrsbZ6s7iGxU3kd7SQYxQ

Maybe overpaid by 1-2mil? But far far from a dead contract.

Looking at Marner/ Meier, no doubt Marner is more valuable at the surface, but you are missing the fact that Marner would be 11mil for 2.5 seasons versus Meier at only 3mil with RFA rights. Meiers 10milQO doesn't necessarily mean he must be signed to that contract amount either.

Why wouldn't he demand 10 as a starting point. Even if he goes under that, it won't be much so let's say an extension is 9.5 million a year for 8 years. That's 20 million in Meier and Karlsson, or less for Rielly and Marner. And neither are declining players like Karlsson is. Without a doubt this makes TO worse and handcuffs them down the road

Meier is most likely headed towards an 8mil deal at the high end. There's no scenario where he crosses his arms and insists on 10mil, even he knows he's not close to that ballpark figure.

The joint cost of Reilly + Marner won't be that much lower than Ek65 +Meier. Not to mention you are missing the point of contract term here. This is multiple years of EK and Meier for only 2 seasons of Marner ( wanna take a guess at Marners asking price in 2 years?).

Yes I absolutely would take Marners asking price in 2 years over still paying Karlsson for years. And Meier has the opportunity to take his future in his own hands. He can demand 10 million from the sharks and then either play 1 year at his QO and then go wherever he wants or get traded where he wants to go and then sign there. He can do that anywhere he gets traded too as well. And he's done a lot more than Stutzele has so far and he's getting 8 million so why is Meier who is better not get more? Because it works for this absolutely insane trade proposal?

Players don't hold teams hostage like that with their QO though. I'm sure there's been players in the past who have done it to push their own agenda in facilitating a trade out of town.

The comment regarding Marners pay bump wasn't about not paying him, it was in response to your argument that Marner + Rielly would be cheaper than EK65 + Meier, which it's really not when you consider all factors.

The Stutzel comparison isn't applicable here. OTT overpaid Stutzel in anticipation he would outplay his contract in his upcoming prime years. Meiers already in his best years, so you pay him based on his actual production

Karlsson's contract is horrible, why on earth would anyone want it?

Horrible is a stretch.

At only 1.5mil retained (which wouldn't be much for SJS to eat) brings him into the 10mil ballpark. Is EK65 that much worse than the likes of S. Jones/Werenski/Nurse/Doughty? It's not far off man.

He is definitely far off Werenski but the other guys all have terrible contracts as well.