When the Ottawa Senators sent team captain Erik Karlsson down to the San Jose Sharks, one of the assets they received was a conditional first-round pick in either 2019 or 2020.
The condition attached to the pick was whether or not the Sharks made the playoffs last season, which they did. This meant that the Senators received the Sharks’ pick in 2020, a year stacked with top-end talent that would boost any team in the league.
The Sharks are a team that many believe should be competing for the cup on a yearly basis, but something doesn’t seem to be right so far this season.