from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,

The deal Kekalainen cut with Vegas went like this: The Knights took the contract of the injured David Clarkson, who had two more years and $10.5 million remaining and was physically incapable of playing hockey. The Knights also got a first-round pick in 2017 and a second-round pick in 2019. In exchange, they promised to pass on forward Josh Anderson and backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo in the expansion draft, and they “agreed” to take Karlsson.

This is a sensitive subject for Jackets fans. I’m a bit more sanguine. Karlsson had scored zero goals in his last 45 regular-season games with the Jackets. He was part of the price the Jackets had to pay to unload Clarkson’s contract. As it turns out, it might have been too high a price — but there is a return.

Had Clarkson’s contract not come off the Jackets’ cap, Kekalainen would be hard pressed to take care of the free agents who need new contracts. Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky are just the start of a long list of to-dos that are more doable with Clarkson off the books.

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