Retaining for 6 and a half years is just out of the question, at pretty much any cost

Uhh... no. I like Tomas Hertl, he's going to be 37 when that deal expires. No thanks

Indeed he will, but then again Canes will never win until they have more scoring. No matter how good their D is.

They are top 10 in the league in goals per game and have the 2nd ranked power play while missing Svechnikov for a good chunk of the season. They’re fine there.

What they need is goaltending.

Kahkonnen for a 3rd is something I could get behind.

FFS no he wont. He'll be 35 at the beginning of the season and 36 at the end. Account for cap ceiling increases, it's equivalent to a 35/36 year old making about 6-6.75 mil. Letang is making 6.1 at 36/37, except he has like 4 1/2 years left

Literally every ACGM with Hertl involved tries to make him older than he is. It's pretty insane actually how often people bring it up. If Hertl doesn't ask to get traded, Sharks will happily keep him as a 2C as they're coming out of their rebuild. If Dallas can have Seguin AND Benn on those contracts as 2nd/3rd liners and be competitive than Hertl is someone Sharks will want to keep around, even if he isn't playing at a 8.15 mil level