long awaited transfer

Petry won't waive for SJ. Also seriously doubt Dubas is accepting this even if Petry would go to SJ.

A 1st and a first rd prospect is now even too much an asking price for EK65 now? Huh, interesting.

Even with the retention AND you get to bail on arguably what should be the worst two years of Petrys contract

No team Karlsson would waive his NMC would take him for free. Four years retention of $2.5m isn't worth this package. Karlsson hasn't been a worth a $9m cap hit over the first four years of his contract. Dubas and Waddell are not paying Karlsson like he is a perennial Norris contender. Because he hasn't been. And there's little reason to think he will be over the next 4 years. If San Jose is demanding that kind of return then they simply won't be trading him.

Karlsson was worth more than his full contract ($11.5M) this past season.

Yes and that selectively ignores the previous three years and the next four. Hence why I specifically stated he wasn't worth $9m over the first four years of his contract. If Karlsson has been a Norris contender all of the last four years his trade value would be extremely high.