Remind me again why we need/want Karlsson?

Elite player that was just nominated for the Norris trophy. When he's available everybody wants him. The question becomes cost. This was a look at a fairly reasonable offer from an Ottawa fan.

The trade aside, the free agent signings are making my eyes bleed...
Plekanec: no thank you and he should get about half of that. He's a 4th liner/ defensive specialist at this point and has no value on a third line.
Schaller: we already have a fourth line center in the organization with comparable number and is a positive play driver signed for half that number.
Stewart: Again is a fourth liner or better yet, a 13th forward, who has to be protected with offensive zone starts because he is a liability and the plus side: he doesn't produce offense very well anymore

I'm sure we have better (and higher-upside) options in the organization.

Higher upside options sure no question,
They're not the best signings but they're all 1 year. If they lose the job to a young player, fantastic that's what we all want anyway. They have a need at #3 center for this coming season, I don't see any young player taking that role. I overpaid for Plekanec for 1 year. I do like Schaller as a PK specialist no matter where he ends up slotting in. I'd like to see Laughton get an extended look as a wing on the 3rd line rather than center. He's a nice player but I'm concerned his future as a center is limited to 4th line work and he doesn't match up well with higher end centers in the league right now.

That's the truth!

How is this not a straight up Simmonds for Karlsson trade? The minor pieces involved offset each other and in fact maybe are worth more on OTT side than on PHI.
Then why would OTT take it? Simmonds is maybe a 30 G scorer, and on OTT he will be sandpaper that is very much needed, but also he will struggle to crack a 20, at the same time he never was a positive +/- player, so he is more of a liability to a team that is already full of liabilities.

Thanks but NO thanks.

I want to just copy this, with your name in the quote, into other GMs. +10

Replace Simmonds with Konecny.