General Weirdness

I’m higher on Meier than some other Devils fans. I’d definitely consider this

Pretty sure oilers would just keep their prospects and sign Kane as a UFA.

Haven't really read up on it as much, but isn't the issue just what to do with the money owed to Kane?

I thought the contract was dead and gone either way, and the grievance was what to do with the dollars owed for 'wrongful termination'.
My understanding was that no matter what the outcome, Sharks could owe Kane but not have an actual contract in place as far as employment going forward. Kinda like an everyday employee suing, getting a potential settlement, and free to work elsewhere.

Sharks lose that Meier trade by quite a bit.

There is an Athletic article that says that one possibility is that the contract could be reinstated by the arbitrator. I think the point with this idea (which could be spruced up - e.g. add Reimer, or take something else back from the Oilers) is that the Oilers will want to keep Kane, but he may be playing himself out of their salary range. This is a way that Kane can pull down $7M a year from the team that he wants to stay with without causing problems with the league. So, Sharks and Kane settle, agree to contract reinstatement, Kane then immediately gets traded back to the Oilers as part of deal with salary holdback.

I think the Meier deal makes a lot of sense, because I don't think the Sharks can pay for everyone, and this is a way of rebuilding on the fly. Sharks could be a playoff team in only a year or two b/w clearing salary, getting in better, younger players, and getting past the bad years of the buyouts.