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The media conference began with Dorion offering up a statement.

“We don’t really want to talk about roster players, contract negotiations, trades, all these things,” he said. “But I think we owe it to our fans … We made a promise at our town halls that we would make a contract offer to Erik Karlsson, and we have done so. We’re not going to talk anymore about it. That’s all we’re going to say on the subject. We’re not going to discuss any other contract negotiations, whether it’s about Mark Stone, Cody Ceci, Matt Duchene (or anyone else).”

Photo by Errol McGihon / Postmedia

What follows is an edited transcript of the question-and-answer session that followed.

Question: What was Karlsson’s reaction to the offer?

Dorion: We’re not going there.”

Question: Did you meet with Karlsson (Saturday)? Was he at Canadian Tire Centre (Saturday)?:

Dorion: I was told he came here late in the day. I wasn’t aware of where he was in our offices.”

Question: The part of the process you don’t want to talk about right now … Will you talk about it later on, when things have settled down?

Dorion: We see other teams when they’re in contract negotiations and they don’t talk about it. I don’t think there is anything to gain from it.”

Question: There has been an awful lot of speculation about (Karlsson’s) future.…

Dorion: We’ve said our piece about that.

Question: If the Los Angeles Kings could sign Drew Doughty to an eight-year deal (for $88 million), why did it take until (Sunday) to make Karlsson an offer?