Edmonton Oilers fans’ dreams of two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson being traded to oil country might have to wait to become a reality. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period is reporting that a deal between the Oilers and San Jose Sharks for Karlsson is considered “unlikely,” for mainly financial reasons. Pagnotta reports that while the Sharks are willing to retain two or three million dollars off of Karlsson’s deal, the Oilers want the Sharks to retain a more significant portion, around $5MM, if not more.
As a result, Pagnotta says that “it sounds like there haven’t been any recent serious discussions between the two clubs as a result” of those financial disagreements. The rationale for the Oilers to want to acquire Karlsson is very real, as he’s a Norris Trophy frontrunner with 76 points in 58 games. But asking San Jose to take on such a large number of dead cap dollars for the foreseeable future is a major ask, and it’s understandable that the Sharks balked at the prospect of making such a deal. According to Pagnotta, the Oilers could be pivoting to new targets, such as Anaheim Ducks defenseman John Klingberg, and Arizona Coyotes blueliner Shayne Gostisbehere.
Some other notes from across the Western Conference:
- As relayed by NBC Sports’ Charlie Roumeliotis, Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson gave an update on the team’s situation with top trade candidate Patrick Kane. Davidson said that he is in “constant contact” with Kane’s representatives, but hasn’t yet heard a decision on whether Kane wants to be dealt and is willing to waive his trade protection. While Kane has had some health issues and scored less than he’d likely have hoped he would, his decision on a trade is still one of massive importance, as Kane is likely at or near the top of quite a few contending teams’ trade deadline wishlists.
- The St. Louis Blues announced that defenseman Torey Krug left tonight’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes with a lower-body injury. It’s another stroke of bad luck for Krug, who has dealt with lingering injury issues recently. Krug’s performance this season has mirrored the Blues as a whole: inconsistent and largely disappointing. The veteran defenseman, who is on a $6.5MM AAV contract through 2027, has scored just 22 points in 40 games, a decline from last season when he scored 43 points in 64 games. Hopefully, this injury is not connected to what Krug has been dealing with in recent weeks and this absence was just a precautionary measure.
The Oilers have surrendered three goal leads in their last two games & they are looking at defensemen that don’t play a lot of defense. Karlsson, Klingberg & Gostisbhere are all offensive minded defensemen who aren’t great in their own end. None of those guys are going to help the Oilers keep the puck out of their own net. Those are more of lets get score more goals and maybe we can outscore them kind of trades
Agree with Gostisbehere and Klingberg. Disagree with Karlsson here. Look at his numbers (even on a weak Sharks team). He prevents opponents’ chances by creating offense. Last time I checked the Sharks were +15 with him 5-on-5, -31 without him.
Karlsson has never been a good defensive player. Even the years he won his Norris Trophy’s, he wasn’t great in his own zone. He isn’t going to be able to shut down the other team’s top players. That’s what the Oilers need. They need good defensive defensemen. They’ve needed that for years, but they never go after those type of players. It is always the offensive-minded players.
Not saying Karlsson is anywhere near useful in defense. It’s just Karlsson is *that* good offensively, that he is a better add than any of the defensive D you can get.
Krug has been a complete waste of money for the Blues.
Loved him on the bruins but was relieved they didn’t pay him
Yea great player for the B’s but I was happy when they let him go, his frame and play style wasn’t going to hold up as he got older. Definitely hope he can get back on the ice and stay there, such a fun player to watch when he’s healthy.
Yeah, if I’m the Sharks’ GM, I’m saying “You want us to swallow $20 million in dead cap space? Fair enough. That’ll be two first rounders and a second rounder. Now let’s talk about what KARLSSON will cost you.”
It’s an interesting point of contention I think. While in concept I agree with you (and have advocated in the past for the starting point being 2 x 1sts, realistically, I hope Grier is a bit more pragmatic. ’23 – Sharks suck; 24′ Sharks will suck; 25′ Sharks will suck – this is the reality that needs to be faced. They only really have 1 A+ prospect in Eklund. They have 4 other good forward prospects and then depth pieces, no decent D. The cavalry is not magically coming – they will also sell Timo. So we reach 2026 and maybe, if we get lucky and win the lottery and get Bedard and some other pieces, the first corner turns and by 2027 absolute luck may have them back in contention. More likely it’s beyond 2028 when Karlsson contract expires. So who the heck does he think he’s saving that $2-3m dead cap for that EDM and SJS are apart? I honestly think he should eat all the cap someone needs at massive bargain discount prices and accept the package EDM offers by just maximising quality over quantity. 2 firsts, Broberg and some other parts to me is a trade you can’t pass up. Might as well tank properly if you are going to do it – they already gave away Burns for nothing and did nothing with the cap space. Noone is paying 4 1sts for Karlsson even if he can drive a team from the back end – that’s McDavid money.
Maybe it just the fact that Edmonton is a division rival & Grier doesn’t want to help them out by eating more of Karlsson’s contract. If Edmonton has to pay more of the contract, they’ll be forced to do less in free agency & trades going forward. The Oilers depth would take a hit going forward because of cap troubles. Edmonton, even with McDavid & Draisatl on the team, would take a step back in that scenario and San Jose could get closer to them. I don’t think Grier is looking at that long term of a rebuild as you described. He probably won’t have a job if takes that long for them to get competitive. I think he wants to get high end prospects and draft picks & then spend in free agency to turn it around in a few years.
That’s a pretty glass totally full outlook there DevilShark. You’re 4th or fifth from the bottom in points with the Hawks, Blue Jackets and Ducks about to sell off every asset they can find. The Hawks are about to go on a 4 game road trip where I don’t really see them winning a game even if they had everybody. That would take some kind of Ping Pong ball luck my friend. It’s not impossible just unlikely IMO. Personally I wouldn’t mind seeing the Hawks come away with Carlsson, Because the Hawks could use a big C to replace Toews who is going to be gone next year. Kane is having fun right now playing with kids and I hope they bring him back to finish out his career, Even if they trade him. However I see it less likely they move him as his 2 top teams he wanted to go to already made big moves. Interesting 2 weeks coming up.
Nha Trang, At least. Can they even swallow 20 million? Is that the 50% number? I’m not sure the hockey rules for this kind of stuff evade me.
Karlsson’s signed to a $11.5 MM AAV through to 2027. Were the Sharks to be asked to eat 50% retention — and there isn’t a contender in the league that could take on Karlsson’s full salary — that’s an annual cap hit of $5.75 MM for the next four years, which is a heavy price to pay for a guy they wouldn’t own.
As a lightning fan I’d like the piers to retain 10 mil
… well, as a Bruins fan, I’d like Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Johnny Bucyk, Dallas Smith and Ed Westfall to reappear in 1972 form, and sign with the team for what they were making fifty years ago to boot. That ain’t happening either.
I would love to see Kane stay and retire as a Blackhawk, but one thing bothers me. With this ‘tear’ he is on, where has this been over the span of the last few seasons? I mean I get that he has been on some bad teams, but still. Good players play hard and be game changers no matter what and that’s how they are remembered in the stat sheets as well. I would hate to see him go for pretty much nothing due to his no trade clause (especially since Toews is likely doing that with this post covid issue he has) and then go to a team who gets the best Kane has to offer for little in return.