The San Jose Sharks finally pulled the trigger on the long anticipated Erik Karlsson trade. In the end, the reigning Norris Trophy winner is headed to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a three-team blockbuster. It was a long process that took up most of the summer. However, Sharks general manager Mike Grier is thrilled that this deal is now complete.

“We've been going at it for a while trying to get this done. It's been a bit of a grind,” Grier said, via NHL.com. “Happy to get it done with. Having the cap flexibility and financial flexibility was really important for us moving forward. We want to thank Erik for his contributions in San Jose over the last four years and congratulate him on a remarkable and historic 2022-23 season.”

From the outset, Grier maintained his reluctance to retain a significant portion of Karlsson's $11.5 million cap hit over the next four years. And it worked out for him. San Jose retained just $1.5 million of Karlsson's salary in this trade.

San Jose acquired forward Mikael Granlund, defenseman Jan Rutta, and a conditional 2024 first round pick from the Penguins in this trade. The first rounder is top-10 protected and slides to 2025 if the pick lands in the top 10. Furthermore, the Sharks acquired forward Mike Hoffman from the Montreal Canadiens in this deal.

The Sharks have a number of different options in the aftermath of this trade. San Jose took a short-term loss in terms of available cap space. However, the Sharks gained significant space over the next couple seasons. Let's see how Grier uses this newfound salary cap flexability to aid the team's rebuilding process.