While the Penguins are in the thick of the battle to acquire Erik Karlsson, Kyle Dubas is still working to fit the defenseman's enormous salary into his salary structure. We know that Dubas' plan is to include Jeff Petry in a transaction, but the latter doesn't want to go to San Jose, which complicates matters considerably. With the signing of Drew O'Connor earlier this week, the Penguins have gained another 48 hours to buy out his contract. Elliotte Friedman has reason to believe that this is the path the Pens will take. <q>I'm really curious to see that. They have until Sunday (so it could be announced as early as tomorrow). Several sources have told me to keep an eye on it. - Friedman</q> Obviously, getting rid of Petry's $6.25 million contract would be enough to bring Karlsson to Pittsburgh. Plus, with Kristopher Letang and Erik Karlsson, Petry wouldn't really fit in with the team anymore. Paying a defenseman $6.25 million to be on the 3rd pair would be far too much in the salary cap era. According to several media outlets, including <a href='https://www.tvasports.ca/2023/08/02/les-penguins-devront-ils-racheter-un-contrat' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>TVA Sports</a>, we shouldn't be surprised to learn that Petry's contract has been bought out. <blockquote class=twitter-tweet><p lang=en dir=ltr>Friedman on NHL Network: The Penguins settled with Drew O'Connor and that means this weekend they now have a 48 hr buyout window and some potential roster flexibility, Dubas has said he doesn't like using buyouts, prefers not to do it, we'll see, but I am very curious to see..- NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) <a href=https://twitter.com/NHL_Watcher/status/1687281336250159104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>August 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js charset=utf-8> <blockquote class=twitter-tweet><p lang=en dir=ltr>Cont'd: ...if by the time that buyout window closes, and it closes on Sunday, we have some clarity on Erik Karlsson, I've had a couple of people just say, keep an eye this weekend, there's going to be an attempt to see if this can get closed.- NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) <a href=https://twitter.com/NHL_Watcher/status/1687281337898602496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>August 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js charset=utf-8>