Karlsson Era in Ottawa is Over

			2018 Season			July 1st, 2018
To San Jose	POS	Age	GP	Goals	Points	Years	Cap Hit
Erik Karlsson	D	28	71	9	62	1	$6.5 mil
Francis Perron	F	22	0	0	0	1	$703k
-----
To Ottawa	POS	Age	GP	Goals	Points	Years	Cap Hit
Chris Tierney	F	24	82	17	40	2	$2.9 mil
Dylan Demelo	D	25	63	0	20	2	$900k
Rudolfs Balcers	F	21	0	0	0	2	$759k
Josh Norris	F	19	0	0	0	0	USD
2019 2nd Round Draft Pick
Conditional 2020 1st Round Draft Pick
Conditional 2021 2nd Round Draft Pick
Conditional Draft Pick

Well, the biggest piece of trade bait in this off-season has been landed and it was by the San Jose Sharks, who sure like it when there is blood in the water.  The Sharks were able to land Erik Karlsson from the Ottawa Senators and they had to give up quite the package to do so.

The Sharks acquired the All-Star defenseman and an AHL prospect for a couple of pool worthy players, forward Chris Tierney and defenseman Dylan Demelo, prospect forwards Rudolfs Balcers and Josh Norris, a 2nd round pick next summer and the possibility of three other conditional picks.

With this deal done, this now gives the Sharks one of the most elite defenseman pairings the NHL has probably ever seen in both Karlsson and Brent Burns and now their power play units immediately become units 1A and 1B, unless they really wanted to load up the points on one unit.  There should be no shortage of offense started from the back end in San Jose and there could be a chance that they could have two 75-point defenders this season.

The Senators reportedly wanted to get a deal done before training camp opened up and their mission was accomplished, blowing out that dark cloud that was looming over top of them.  Maybe with this deal done, the distraction can now be put past them and they can go back to playing hockey.

The pieces that could certainly help their cause this season, Tierney and Demelo, but they will get a downgrade in each of their projections in the move, as they are going from a contender to a rebuild, Demelo likely falling out of pool worthiness with the move.

With a 2017 1st round pick in Norris and a 2nd round pick, not to mention the possibility of more picks, if certain conditions are met, this rebuild process could be made somewhat easier, even if the San Jose picks are later on in the high rounds.  This is certainly a move for the future, more than it is the present, other than getting rid of the hanging clouds.

Of course, there are plenty of salary cap questions and the Sharks have the most concern after this deal, but even taking two roster players out, adding Karlsson and another bubble player, Tim Clifton, I am showing them with $1.2 million in cap space for their 23-man roster today.  The Sens, on the other hand, open up more cap space, and the shifting of their roster gives them $10.1 million in cap space after the deal.

It's hard not to look at the Sharks and think they are not a Cup contender this season.  At the very least, they'll give Vegas a run for the Pacific Division title, but I think we have to look at the big picture with this deal done.  Hockey pool-wise, man... it's going to be hard to stay away from the top six in San Jose, since both Karlsson and Burns will be working with these guys for large portions of the game and that will be hard to defend, night in and night out.