Karlsson makes 10 AAV and absolutely sucks defensively. That means, if the Leafs bring him in, they can’t just hide him on the 3rd pair like they could with Klingberg who would probably cost 2 million or less. But Sundin might pull the Swedish card and not give a fuck about how bad Karlsson is and just do it because he thinks he’s a good guy.

The only benefit of Karlsson is that he only has 1 year left on his deal which means A) he will be motivated to play his best for his next contract and B) if he still sucks defensively, you let him walk and Rielly is off your books for the next five years.

I doubt Dubas moves on from Karlsson. He did a lot to get him to Pittsburgh and he outperformed Rielly last year by 30 points. It doesn’t benefit Pittsburgh enough.

I think the only way Rielly waives to go to Pittsburgh is if Crosby gets involved. Rielly seems hellbent (for leather) on never leaving Toronto.

Good thing SJ is paying 1.5M on Karlsson current contract.
Yes, there’s pros and cons to this potential trade. I get that.
The Leafs cap will be tight if the trade does go down. Domi going on LTIR to start or possibly the whole season will help with that.