Korps can't get moved in the same trade that you get EK.

Remove Korpisalo entirely.

No offense, because I know PIT looks like they are staring at a long decline, but I am not confident Karlsson would waive for another potential non-playoff team. If he gets traded again, I think he will only waive for a bonafide contender.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this was a major reason why he wanted to leave OTT anyway.

He explicitly wanted to leave San Jose because they were rebuilding. He doesn't have many years left and has never played in a SCF. He is unlikely to waive except for top notch contenders. Might take retaining 50% of his cap hit to move him again, but he would be a very good value player at that cap hit.

no shot you can get away with adding korpi to the trade let alone spending a 1st to trade him anywhere

I love Karl SO MUCH, but for a deal to make sense in my head for Ottawa, there's too many moving pieces to ever actually make sense. You'd borderline need to completely rebuild the entire blueline to support him, like full EA NHL style.

-Chabot has to be going the other way or be dealt separately. Both are great players, but if you're bringing in EK65, you're building the top powerplay around him, and you still want Sanderson developing with those PP2 reps.

-You're getting Karlsson at 8mil or lower. Any higher than that and it's just too big a gamble imo.

-You're maybe also considering trying to swap Chychrun out for a big minute defensive LD instead. Maybe Chychrun and Karlsson could work together idk, but Karlsson does his best with a steady hand behind him, and I don't think Chychrun is built for cleanup duty. Maybe there's a world where you convince the Rangers to make a Miller/Chychrun swap or something?

-If you're making a play for Karlsson, you're pushing your chips in to try and win with Karlsson while he's still Karlsson. That means you're going out and making a big move to get a great goalie too. Which means like, Markstrom, Saros or maybe Ullmark in the summer. That's after you deal with Korpisalo (definitely not in the Karlsson trade), probably via a buyout.

Ultimately I think that unless you're gonna fully commit to changing around Karlsson, adding Karl just doesn't make sense. Merely adding EK To this team doesn't really address any of the actual issues with the blueline.

I think EK would more likely play with Sanderson instead of Chabot or Chychrun.

And Sanderson is better off killing penalties.

Believe it or not, Chychrun has been our best defenceman on the powerplay this year.

Then Pittsburgh retains 50% on EK.

Then PIT simply declines.

Elliotte Friedman is obsessed with Karlsson coming back to Ottawa apparently.

He basically said so on his 32 thoughts blog.

I'd be extremely hesitant to break up Sanderson-Zub. One of the best pairings in the league defensively. Being able to throw those two out for 20+ minutes a night does more to cover for other player's defensive woes than playing them separately with other players. Hence why I'm more in favour of moving one of 72/6 and bringing in a defensive RD. Going that route gives the remaining LHD a safety blanket D partner without breaking up a good thing with 85-2. The 3rd pair still needs to be rebuilt, but I think going this route is the more efficient way to build the blueline

I would be fine with it provided Dubas is rebuilding. At 50% retained, Karlsson is an excellent value RD. Just not convinced Dubas, or should I say FSG, is willing to rebuild yet and I have no idea if Karlsson would waive to go somewhere that is still waiting for the upswing of their own rebuild. I do think Karlsson will want out immediately if Dubas does start rebuilding and think that is only fair to Karlsson. Also no idea if FSG would be willing to retain money on him either.

I will say this:

Having 4 different NHL quality puck-moving LDs in Chabot, Sanderson, Chychrun and Brannstrom hasn't exactly been a recipe for success.

At the very least, Brannstrom needs to go.

I can't see that happening. retaining 5m for 4 years is just a disaster. And he's been good! He hasn't been bad at all and has been good offensively. So the Pens shouldn't need to retain 5m. Also, if they were to hypoteticaly retain that much the price would be unfathonable. At least with EK's deal now you could Maybe LTIRetire him but you cannot LTIRetire dead cap aka buyout/retention cap.

No offence but good at PK don't mean good at defensive play. On the PK you can actually ice the puck whenever you feel like it, on EV you can't.

Alright, then move him and bring in someone else. It doesn't have to be a blockbuster (no offense)