San Jose gets some guys they can maybe flip, clears a huge contract, but still no better against the cap. So they got a protected 1st and pushed their rebuild to 2 years out

I like this for SJ, you get what you wanted, have potential at TDL 50% retained and only retain 1.5 mill a year in case the rebuild signals to be over (which is very unlikely)

This trade looks like a big ball of meh... San Jose wins. EK's foot is not going to hold up. They get a 1st and a 2nd to get out from under that deal while only retaining a minimal amount. Grier did really well here for my money

SJS fans can't be happy right now. Had to take back three contracts, retained on Karlsson, and at best got a protected first.

Hopefully they can turn Hoffman and Rutta into deadline deals with retention.

Hoffman could get back a 2nd with a decent season. And if Pitt falls in the top 10 I don't mind a 2025 First with Pitts aging core. They'll likely only get worst, and potentially not enough cap to re-sign Guentzal, making that unprotected first even lower.

And most importantly only 1.5 retention??? That's absolutely wild. We knew the haul woul dbe a lot less with very little retention and that's what we got here. Fair deal all around IMO

I'm really just talking value wise. Petry to Montreal also makes no sense because we're logjammed at defense as it is.

Hoffman isn't getting back a 2nd. He hasn't been good in 4 years. He'll likely get a mid round pick retained, and San Jose only has 1 retained spot left, so are they going to use it on him? I doubt it.

Yeah, the retention is low, I'm assuming that's why the package wasn't as good as it could've been.

All this is true, but you are missing out on the no 1 reason to make this trade. SJ saving a lot of money.

Everybody said they would have to eat 25%+ to trade Karlsson away and were able to do it for half of that dead money.

Montreal made a great deal.
Pens got what they wanted.
Sharks got absolutely fleeced, but I guess their fanbase will be happy - they've always hated Karlsson.
Hockey in East will be fun to watch next season.

Bonkers, absolutely bonkers I tells ya!

Just looking at it from a Habs perspective but if KH moves out Petry and one of either Desmith or Allen, than this is a masterclass. If he's stuck with Petry/Desmith/Allen for any amount of time it starts to not be as good. Im confident one of Allen/Desmith will be moved quite easily and if Habs retain 50% on Petry now, teams should be knocking down the door to get him. 2.6M for a top 4 dman is great value. Even if he had an off year last year.

Can't wait to see what happens next for the Habs but this appears to be Habs get a 2nd rounder+ Legare + (insert value from future Petry/Desmith trades) for approx 3M in dead cap and 1 less retention spot this year and next. Actually the fact that the Habs moved out Hoffman and Pitlick who are pending UFA's means they actually will have not gained any cap overall but rather swapped approx 3M from this year, to next year in the deal.

Its a very convoluted trade just like the Monahan one but when you look at it in the fine details, this is very smart work for Hughes and company.

I think it is win for SJS. They retained only 1,5M for next 4 seasons. Hoffmann is in last year of his contract, so they can start with rebuild. In ideal world, in last years of Hertl contract, they should be SC contender
It is now or never for Pens, then hard reset and waiting for new Jagr - Lemieux or Crosby - Malkin duo.
Habs - I dunno, fair enough.

Hey look, Grier lost another trade!

Terrible for sharks, how does a 100pt season net only a single protected first and mid camp dumps?
Great for Pittsburgh (short term at least), and for Montreal, as they upgrade from Hoffman to Petry and get paid to do it.

”It’Ll cOsT aT lEaSt A fIRsT tO MoVe GrAnLunD oR pEtRY”

I am so confused

???

Lol I heard that so much. And then it would cost 2 firsts plus Crosby to get Karlsson lol, some people don’t know anything

What happened here, Sharks?

Just to get nuked by Avs or Golden Knights in SC final

Oh no. I was assured just last week on this site that SJ was asking for 3 firsts and they weren't budging.

HOLY SMOKES

If this is all a Norris trophy winner gets you in return, he shouldn't have been the winner.

Interesting trade, not quite sure what Pitt is thinking with the whole retaining thing? They get SJ to retain 1.5M off EK but then turn around and retain 1.5M off Petry for MTL? It’s a complete wash , makes no sense.

Dubas wants so bad to win NOW with Pitt to prove himself.. it’s either going 1 of two ways.. either Pitt wins a cup .. which is probably only a 2 year window left or they miss playoffs again/have major injuries and now they’re stuck with paying two RD 16M for the next 4+ years , not a good look. Dubas will be Axed from the league if this doesn’t work out. His handling of contracts and inability to get Toronto over the top with that talent .. what makes u think he can do it with 4 aging 35+ year old star players ? He better be praying.

EK thrives off being “THE GUY” there’s a reason why he struggled when Burns was still in SJ. You can’t have two OFD with EK, he needs to be out there on every PP playing 26+ minutes a night.

SJ comes away as the winner in this all. In 2 years from now it’ll be even more obvious. They dump EK’s huge contract, get 1st round pick and two proven serviceable 2/3rd liners that are responsible 2 way forwards who can teach SJ’s young guys coming up. If both healthy Granlund and Hoff are 50 point guys . Only thing I would’ve like to see is SJ get a B+ or higher level prospect out of this. They only took Rutta because Pitt needed to dump some cap. SJ is 3-4 years away from being a contender again, this window they’ll be free off all bad contacts, Burns, EK, Vlasic, etc They’ll have some solid prospects coming in and will have a ton of cap space to sign some FA’s.

Wait a sec, so the only thing of value SJS got from PIT is a top10 protected 1st for Karlsson? What a horrendous trade for Mike Grier. I understand he can flip the guys he got, but still, PIT was up against the cap and should've paid to unload those contracts. Feel like he could've gotten more despite Karlsson's huge contract, like at least another 2nd or something.

There's a chance Montreal gets as much if not more for Petry at the deadline with the lowered cap hit.

They didn't get a 2nd. They got a protected first and 3 cap dumps.

LOL.