Well we obviously don't know everything. Best case it was a random third-party and all a big misunderstanding. But let me get ahead of myself and state something that we can assume:
Erik Karlsson and Mike Hoffman will not be playing together on the Ottawa Senators next year while Monika Caryk is still with Hoffman. Taking it a step further, I can't really see a situation in which Karlsson and Hoffman play together regardless.
How does Karlsson voluntarily chose to re-sign at some point this year in Ottawa with Hoffman still around?
The Sens are likely to get hosed by any deal. Looking at their options, they can't easily trade away Karlsson and keep Hoffman - that would be a serious black mark on the team. They might get a good deal for Karlsson, but then they lose status on the team and it's even tougher to attract good talent. They could trade both, but that would also be very difficult to come out ahead. Finally, they could trade Hoffman and re-sign Karlsson. Hoffman has close to no trade value right now, and they lose short-term, but might come out ahead long-term.
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