Quote (Hizkuntza @ Aug 6 2023 10:02pm)
IMO the trade was a great swing at the fences by Dubas. The team isn't going anywhere without Crosby and Malkin, they're slowly declining and the window needs to be forced open as long as possible. They have 2 maybe 3 players tops who could make a splash on an ELC and nothing afterwards, their main roster players are either prime aged or 30+. There's no point in holding futures that would only have an impact 4+ years from now, Pens have to be all-in then once the two superstars have nothing left to give, implode and rebuild.
Dubas' problem to solve is needing to unfuck the myriad of terrible contracts Hextall handed out while acquiring win-now players with limited assets. With the Karlsson trade he somehow managed to make that win-now move while simultaneously dumping several bad contracts and not needing to give up the few prized prospects the org still has. Ruuta was a loss but not much, he's the kind of boring sandpaper guy needed for playoffs but he can easily be replaced down the road. The team improved considerably, came out healthier capwise for the next two seasons and still has fat to shed.
This was a chel trade for the Penguins. On the surface the Sharks did fine considering Karlsson's massive contract and NTC, but the questions that will linger is why didn't Grier simply retain more to get a better return - granted there was no better time to make the trade, but with only minimal retention I don't think any team attempting to contend other than the Penguins would try to make it work. Even for someone as good as Karlsson, he could regress or have another major injury - in which case the team would be stuck with a gigantic caphit they wouldn't be able to move for years. So there was only one team where the right decision was to accept that risk.
This is what I was wondering as well.
When you are in a full rebuild you should be weaponizing the cap to the max.