Karlsson at his full contract is quite the liability. One of the worst contracts in the league.

If SJ wants to unload EK without retention they are gonna have to throw in the draft picks. No team is taking him for the next 4 years at 11 mil.

No one taking him at 100%

I agree and I kind of wonder if last season will be the last where we see Karlsson at his best.

Look at it this way, this season is the first time he has been worth his cap hit since 2019. So if a team took them at their full cap hit, they would really be gambling that he is a consistent Norris contender and the cap is going up a lot every year. Otherwise they are screwed.

What would you say is a fair deal for EK65 ?

I've been of the belief that no team will want to take on EK for anything more than $8M AAV at the most.

For no retention, best I would offer is Karlsson for Petry, Granlund, and Rutta. Two overpaid players and one liability contract in Granlund. Even then PIT is taking massive risk in two years when Karlsson's at full cap hit and all the bad money SJ is taking is gone. If they aren't rebuilding by then, they'll probably need Karlsson to LTIRetire. Karlsson is owed $39m in salary still. Grier can tell ownership he is saving $11.5m in paid salary while tanking and no dead money.

I think it depends. In this example sharks are taking on some very bad contracts themselves. In fact this move saves the Pens cap for the next two years even without retention. SJS should retain down to 8 and take back petry and they could get a pretty good return

Not one team in the league would take EK at 11.5m for free. I see this with zero disrespect to EK. He is just 33 and has 4 more years left at 11.5m.
At 9.5m cap is where I see teams accepting EK for free.
8.5m I see a team paying for him.
7.5m is where I see a team paying a decent amount for him but nothing outrageous.
50% retention, I think the package would be very nice. But it doesn't sound like San Jose wants to do that (which I think is silly).

It doesn't really save the pens cap tho... they're on the hook for $11.5M AAV for 4 years lol. No one is taking that.

At zero retention there really isnt a fair deal as no team can afford to take on that cap hit. If the pens "could" swing that trade id imagine it looks like petry granlund and a 4th? But even then its iffy in the pens side and obviously SJ doesnt want to trade their best player for that. They really backed themselves into a corner giving EK this contract. They wont get the multpile 1sts and grade A prospect that some SJ fans think they will get.

Truer words are not said enough.

If the Penguins acquire Karlsson without retention, then they will need to move another player to create cap space.