The simple answer is that Erik Karlsson finds himself on the roster or reserve list of a team in the Eastern Conference at any point during the 2018-2019 season.

How could it have happened, you might ask?


Here's how.

1. San Jose trades him to a team in the Eastern Conference.



2. He gets either bought out or has his contract terminated.

Then he signs with a team in the Eastern Conference.



3. He gets placed on waivers and a team from the Eastern Conference claims him off waivers.

This was known at the time of the Erik Karlsson trade as the "Mike Hoffman" Clause.


When the news broke that Hoffman's fiancee allegedly trashed Karlsson's fiancee on the internet, Hoffman's trade value plummeted and we had to get rid of him somehow.


So, we decided to trade him to San Jose for Mikkel Boedker.


But San Jose then traded Hoffman an hour later back east to the Florida Panthers, a division rival, for a bunch of draft picks.

So, what did Pierre Dorion do before also trading Karlsson to San Jose?


He asked that a "Mike Hoffman" clause be written into the terms of the trade.

It basically means that if Karlsson finds himself on an Eastern Conference team during the 2018-2019 season, San Jose would give Ottawa an additional 1st round pick for no later than 2022.



San Jose GM Doug Wilson was then like, "sure, whatever"

Now, you might be asking this:


Which 1st round pick would Ottawa get from San Jose if the terms of the trade only said "No later than 2022"?


Let's put it this way ...

San Jose's 2019 1st round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres when San Jose made the playoffs in 2019 and signed Evander Kane to an extension.


San Jose's 2020 1st round pick already went to Ottawa because San Jose made the playoffs in 2019.



San Jose's 2021 1st round pick was 7th overall and the Sharks never played in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.


So, the Sharks would likely have the choice on whether to give Ottawa the 7th overall pick for 2021 or their 1st round pick for 2022.


The wording "No later than 2022" in the terms of the trade would suggest that it would be incumbent on San Jose to make that decision, should such a situation have taken place.

Because 7th overall is a really high pick and the Sharks would get a really special prospect named William Eklund, it would be safe to assume that the Sharks would draft Eklund and give Ottawa their 1st round pick for 2022 instead.

As for EK65, there is reason to suggest that Karlsson would not have signed an extension with the Sharks in 2019 if he found himself on a roster in the Eastern Conference again during a very short period of time.