Like your thought process behind the Karlsson trade. I just can't see us having Carter be 3C again.

Davidson will want more compensation for retaining.

He's a stopgap until Poulin's ready for the role...or whoever in the system. Carter is just impossible to get rid off with that NMC and being over 35+

How much? Everything's negotiable.

Getting a third team involved will be a challenge because of the length of how young you need to tie up a spot.

I don’t see Ned going down unless DeSmith really kills it this preseason and Ned craps the bed. And I doubt either would get claimed with their cap hits. Hinostroza I can see making the team. I also can’t see them keeping Petry if they get EK. Those top two pairs are going to play a minimum of 48 minutes. The 3rd pair is going to get most of its time on the PK which is not Petry’s strong suit. They’d more than likely keep Rutta and send Petry to a team like Detroit with a sweetener for FC or an AHLer if they don’t want to lose the contract space.

Hawks aren't burning a retention slot for four years on EK65. Severely limits their ability to maneuver at the next 2 trade deadlines.

I agree to an extent, but I think one of DeSmith and Ned will get sent down and potentially might get claimed off waivers (Ned being the more likely option due to being cheaper).

I think there's 5-6 six options around to be used for the two open mid-6 wing slots: Johnsson, Hinostroza, Puustinen, Nylander, Poulin and O'Connor. It's a hunch, but I think Puustinen makes it to the team through the training cap, and Nylander/Hinostroza fight off the remaining positions. I kinda expect either one of them getting claimed off waivers.

I do agree that Petry is likely to be included in there trade, but I doubt he'd waive that M-NTC of his for Sharks, and trying to involve a third team to dump Petry in is a hard work, since there's not a huge market for him unfortunately, especially within teams he'd accept being transferred to. I doubt Detroit is going to be that team though, because they've already added couple of D-men from free agency.

Fair enough, the team doesn't honestly matter. Just picked CHI to fill the role. Any team will do.

Like the one person said above, I don’t see what team would want to retain for 4 years and any team that actually does will ask for a super high price because it’s over 4 years and everyone knows it

I can think of maybe two or three teams that could do it, but you're right that it will cost quite a lot.

Ideally they deal Petry somewhere and find the cap that way...the idea here was to get Karlsson while keeping Petry, because there's so many posts involving Petry being traded to San Jose, which is very unlikely to happen in reality due to hit NTC.

Agreed the only way this deal can go through is if they find someone for Petry

I agree - almost impossible to get rid of. But I'm a big believer we should play the 12 best forwards, regardless of status or previous role. If we play him, it should be 4th line right wing. I would like to see Poulin get a chance though. I thought he looked good last season in his limited time.