Circumstantial Deadline Move

Pittsburgh doesn’t pull it together and continues to struggle.

Nashville stays in the playoff race. Also depending on how ready they think they are to make a serious run in the playoffs.

Karlsson would be an upgrade for the offensive production. Carrier is a UFA and would act as a solid NHL ready replacement for Karlsson.

Glass is still struggling to find his game and fit for Nashville. A bigger body for Pit as well. Rakell still in his slump but as of right now has a better upside offensively than glass and might just need a fresh start.

The move also clears the space PIT would need to resign Guentzel and most likely resign Carrier in the off-season with Jeff Carters contract falling off.

I don't think PIT has a chance of wriggling out of multiple years of $15M bad contracts, plus getting all these assets to boot.

NSH is an odd team to try and trade Karlsson to. They already have a lot of money and term locked in on the backend, plus a better #1 defenseman to boot.

Rakell's contract is borderline unmovable.

Rakell is absolutely a tough sell for sure (hence the poll) so this particular version may not be doable.

However Karlsson still holds value. His contract isn’t pretty when compared to his age but the guys was a James Norris winner last season and boasts 22pts in 30 games on a team that’s not only been staying at .500 but one that is amongst the worst power plays in the entire league. Literally 0 for like 40 PP straight. Karlsson was really the only one consistently firing the puck at the net and getting it across the blue line for most of that stretch. He’s still got it and most analyst agree the pens could easily move him to a playoff contender and get their 1st and 2nd back at the least if they could just make the cap work. Nashville has the open cap and are surprising the league being in a playoff contention spot. The only question is will they sustain and would they want to make the move for him.

I don't know who these analysts you've been listening to are, but there's next to no chance PIT would be able to move Karlsson's cap hit without retaining or taking some significant salary back (and that's not even with Boat Anchor Rakell included).

Being the point man on an 0 for 40 PP isn't exactly a selling feature either. Regardless, aside from having a lot of cap space to accommodate his salary, NSH is a poor destination for Karlsson. He's not going to get the lion's share of EV or PP time with Josi there. Even if a team was convinced Karlsson could keep up his current level of play for the rest of his contract (which is a big gamble - he never has been the most consistent player), NSH needs other pieces a lot more than a $10M offensive defenseman.

A boat anchor? Lol. Dude literally had 60 points (28 of which were goals). He’s having a bad season and played a portion of it with a nagging lower body injury. One bad season does not make him a boat anchor lol. The only reason I would include him in this deal or move him elsewhere would be for salary cap purposes cause out of the 4 top wingers he’s the least essential to us. We have Rust, and Guentzel. If it’s between smith and Rakell I’m choosing Rakell because smith has a Stanley Cup under his belt & way more Playoff experience.

The 0 for 40 PP has a lot more to it than simply saying “ITS KARLSSONS FAULT” lol. If you watched any of the games there’s only two guys moving around trying to open shooting lanes and passing lanes and he’s one of them. Everyone else stands still and just waits for th puck. The pens power play as a whole has been trash. Not Karlssons specifically lol. What i was saying is despite that missed opportunity for points he still has 22 in 30 which says a lot about the offensive production he’s bringing.

Maybe Rakell hasn't fully fallen off the cliff, and can bounce back. Currently no GM is going to view that contract as anything other than a boat anchor though, without a massive turnaround from him. Even then, they're going to be wary. He's over 30, has a lot of term left, the injuries are piling up, and he's flat out sucked this year. The only one gullible enough to trade for that contract today is Hextall, and moves like that are the reason he's unemployed.

Regardless of how much PIT's bad PP is Karlsson's fault, my main point still stands - NSH already has a better defenseman in Josi, and Karlsson's cap hit could provide better value to NSH elsewhere in the lineup. Neither of these guys are worth their cap hit, and neither of them are worth anything close to what you want for them, to NSH.

I think this is just one of those situations where we’ll have to agree to disagree.

I completely get where you’re coming from but looking at the whole picture if and I’m saying IF because that’s the whole basis of this trade talk to begin with. IF Nashville looks to try and make a serious run this season the only other true defensive upgrades they could look towards is Hanifin which I’m sure he’ll go elsewhere unless the possibility of playing with Josi intrigues him. Matheson, and Savard at the very least are likely to be shopped but Montreal would be foolish to move on Matheson unless they get a great deal. There are few other bigger name pending UFAs like Pesce for example but none of them are likely to be moved because they’re currently playoff bound themselves. Karlsson bad contract or not would be their easiest target. If that were to happen I could easily see a conditional 1st and Carrier for Karlsson if the preds remain lower in the seeds with a conditional first being if they make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. If not the pens get a 2nd.

Yes like I said I agree Rakell would be a stretch right now because of his poor production thus far (again the poll) but I never understood people that write a player off for one bad season especially when they’ve only played 18 games lol.