Do you have an underbite when you poop?

Jets decline

Isles politely ask you to remove everything but the 1st and then try and find something more valuable to add to it. 2 playoff runs with a 35-40 goal scorer at $3M is worth way more than the 23rd man on most NHL rosters (MacDermid), a 23 year old that doesn't merit mention on most top prospect lists for a very shallow Avalanche system (Stienberg), and a 21 year old scoring at barely a half point per game pace in the AHL who just had season-ending surgery (Olausson.)

I think the package starts with a guy like Calum Ritchie if you want two seasons of Nelson fully retained. Maybe you can kick the first out a couple years or swap in some other picks instead, but beyond Ritchie there's really no prospect in my eyes that would be able to headline a deal for a guy like Nelson.

Pens easily pass, that offer is beaten by every other contender

Sharks accept minus the retention

Honestly at that price the Sharks might be tempted to accept even with the retention, but they'd rather take on extra cap from elsewhere than retain for this year + next year. RyJo is probably around a 2nd to dump and Blackwood, while likely requiring a bit of an overpay to get since the Sharks aren't specifically looking to trade him, is likely worth around a 3rd. Add to that it being a 2025 1st (2024 is being discussed as much more of a crapshoot after the 20th pick and the Avs are likely going to have a pick later than 20, pushing the pick to 2025 likely increases the value).

That said, 500k is such a negligible amount that it seems odd that they'd want to pay extra for that retention. With the Sharks, unless you're talking about a very big contract the retention slot is the important part rather than the amount retained. It would cost pretty much the same amount for them to retain 1 cent as it would for them to retain $1.5M.

Pens decline. Offer Calum Ritchie and then Pens may consider, but then you might also have to chuck on their 2023 31st OVR (idk how to spell his name) or some other prospect

Sharks prolly accept and Islanders easily decline

avs accept the sharks trade, and everybody decline the other two

Avs accept the Isles trade. NYI declines. They'll probably want Ritchie which is a non-starter imo. Avs decline the SJ trade, SJ likely accepts. Avs decline the PIT trade as they simply don't need to give up those assets for JG as a rental. Pens probably decline as they'll probably get better offers, especially if it's from a team who can re-sign him.