Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported today on the NHL Network that the San Jose Sharks remain steadfast in their efforts to trade reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson. Friedman goes on to say that the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins are the two teams that the Sharks are talking to and adds that Carolina may need to work out of a move for defenseman Brett Pesce to acquire some assets to complete a Karlsson deal.
On the Pittsburgh side of things, Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote an article today that outlined why Erik Karlsson is the type of player that general manager Kyle Dubas needs to acquire. Yohe highlights exactly why Karlsson is the right player for the team and the situation the Penguins are currently in. While most of Yohe’s article is in defense of the Penguins acquiring the defenseman, he also adds a couple of pieces of information regarding a potential move. Yohe says that any move Pittsburgh makes for Karlsson would be complex and would involve a third team, which is no surprise given that Karlsson is owed $11.5MM annually for the next four seasons.
Friedman reported Tuesday on his 32 Thoughts Podcast that one hold-up to the potential deal was that teams wanted the Sharks to retain more of Karlsson’s cap hit. He went on to add that at the trade deadline in March San Jose was willing to retain between 18-20% of Karlsson’s cap hit to facilitate a deal. Friedman believes the Sharks will need to retain closer to 30% of the deal which would turn Karlsson into an $8MM player for the acquiring team, and should net the Sharks a better return. Something they are open to. Friedman also reported today on the NHL Network that he believes the Sharks have pursued unrestricted free-agent defenseman Matt Dumba as a possible replacement for Karlsson.
At this point, it almost feels as though the Penguins must acquire Karlsson. Not only would they block Carolina from adding Karlsson to their already stacked defensive unit, but it would help to jump-start their offence which became stale last year for long stretches. Pittsburgh feels like a team that needs a jolt as they have been unable to get out of the first round of the playoffs since 2018 and didn’t even qualify for the postseason last year. Adding a 101-point defenseman would also alleviate some of the offensive pressure off Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and the rest of the Penguins’ top-6 forward group who almost single-handily carried the team last season. And while Dubas has been busy overhauling the black hole that was the Penguins’ bottom six, he still hasn’t added much in the way of offensive firepower.
Why would the Canes, who just signed Orlov, need Karlsson too?
Any team that ballons their salary cap to acquire Karlsson is a fool.
… Karlsson is the right kind of player for Pittsburgh to acquire?
Huh. So a team that should’ve blown things up a year ago needs to trade away the few young players who don’t have trade protection they have and the few draft picks left to get yet ANOTHER player with a giant, almost-untradeable contract on the wrong side of thirty and with shaky injury history? Man, this Yosh guy must really, really hate Pittsburgh.
Or you just refuse to accept that there will not be a milk toast reset in Pittsburgh, short circuiting HOF careers just to get a head start on a lower quality rebuild.
We’re all in until it implodes into lottery pick after lottery pick.
In hindsight, the B’s have zilch to show for last season even after Bergeron and Krejci borderline colluded with management and Ullmark won a Vezina, should they have rebuilt instead?
while moving Petrys worthless contract cuts into that, SJ would still have to retain, and the asking price is still likely 2 1st round picks or prospect equivalent (for SJ to retain and take Peter)
much rather get a deal done for Hanifin, who’s in his prime and better defender
He is the right kind of player for Pittsburgh to acquire. If the Sharks retain some of that salary, two first rounders may be worth it, otherwise the alternative is sit around and watch Crosby and Malkan collect in their contracts until retirement. They’re not going to be traded – too deep in the history of the team.
“Short circuiting HOF careers?” Looks like YOU refuse to accept that those careers were successful, with multiple Cup rings and great success. What you also seem to refuse to accept is that Father Time is undefeated. Crosby, Malkin and Letang are all getting/already are old. Their decline is *inevitable.* There is no stopping it and no getting around it. Some of the Penguins fanboys were really caustic this time last year over the need to rebuild, and they insisted on doubling down so as Not To Waste Sid’s Last Years.
Well, we saw what happened, and that’s with Geno playing only his second healthy season in over a decade. And if you call recording the best regular season in NHL history “zilch,” then what do you call missing the playoffs altogether? Are you honestly fantasizing that no matter how Dubas condemns the Penguins to a Buffalo-esque streak of years of bottom feeding — just to Not Waste Sid’s Last Years — that they’re going to win a Cup next year … seeing as that seems to be your only definition of a worthwhile season?
The Bruins didn’t mortgage their future to do that. Karlsson’s contract is too big for too long. The rebuild is coming in Pittsburgh. If you want to add something for the next year or two to extend the competitive window, OK. But trading meaningful long term assets to take on even half of Karlsson’s contract is a mistake.
Yep. Karlsson would be a fine pickup for an all-in team that wasn’t too old, and where San Jose retained half the salary. Problem is that the Sharks really don’t want to have to retain salary, and would want an eyepopping package that’s a big risk for someone with Karlsson’s injury history. You’d have to think there aren’t many teams that could afford something like a first, a second and a grade-A prospect for that, and not a lot of teams that could even afford 50% salary at this point.
The ability of GMs to rationalize truly stupid deals to Win Right Now is huge, but this ain’t going to be easy.
“We’re ALL IN!!!!”
On what exactly?
The team is irrelevant, they are not sniffing the top of the league for the next 10 years. They have no young talent on their roster and the worst farm system in the league.
If your idea of going “all in” is putting a team on the ice that, if everything goes right and a bunch of 37 year olds reboot, maybe has a ceiling of sneaking in the 8th seed to get waxed in round 1, then by all means, go for it!
The rest of the eastern conference thanks you, as all of this guarantees a complete, decade long dumpster fire like the NHL hasn’t seen in years.
No picks, no talent, no trade chips.
Anyone who would ask Sid and Geno to play through a rebuild while still elite after all they have done for us is a garbage trash fan.
Period.
Yinzgrates are garbage trash fans. Those morons wanted to let Letang walk for Klingberg. Enough said.
But, the question remains…
Instead of going for it and failing last year, should the Bruins have traded key players before last season and NOT traded away all of those future picks at the deadline only to have nothing to show for it?
The logic you apply to PGH says that they should have done so.
Now, me, I’m not one of these Moneyballed minions who thinks rebuilding is better than s#x and that only 5 or 6 teams should try to win each year, so I love what the Bruins did last year, just as I loved what the Pens did…try their best and let the chips fall.
The plan everyone (including you apparently) wants to see would result in Sid and Geno spinning their wheels for the final half decade of their careers while only netting picks in the #6 to #14 range, thus preventing them from rebuilding properly.
It’s DUMB. Dumb AF.
No, we’re going full speed off the cliff and it will end in a firey wreckage of top 5 picks…while giving Sid the room to finish ahead of Jagr on the all time scoring list.
That’s the plan. FSG is clearly down, because they see things clearly. The short sighted and unwashed do not.
When rebuilds come, it doesn’t matter if you are loaded up with terrible contracts….?
First off, I reject your shibboleth that anything short of a Cup is “nothing.” Have ranted on that idiotic notion before, won’t now.
Second, the Bruins going for it resulted in the greatest regular season in league history and a playoff berth. And oh, yeah, look at the guys they have signed to long term deals. Pasta’s 27. Zacha’s 26. McAvoy’s 25. Lindholm’s 29. Carlo’s 26.
Pittsburgh, by contrast, is loaded down with long-term deals to guys in their thirties: Malkin, Rust, Rakell, Acciari, Letang, and most with trade protection. (Eh, at least Graves and Jarry are only 28, right?) Barring injury, guys like Pastrnak, Zacha and McAvoy will be starring long after those guys are puttering around on their golf carts.
The Bruins’ gamble succeeded wildly, if falling short of a Cup. The Penguins’ gamble, predictable, failed. You feel good about the on-ice product Pittsburgh fielded last year, do you?
“Anyone who would ask Sid and Geno to play through a rebuild while still elite after all they have done for us is a garbage trash fan.”
I admittedly don’t understand this. Sid will be 36 next year, Geno 37. So they get to hold the team hostage for as long as they choose to play, all the while sacrificing picks & prospects, just for the illusion of an additional 5% chance of escaping the 1st round of the playoffs? The past is the past, if the whole team has to be centered around one or two aging stars in the twilight of their careers then maybe the problem is the two aging stars. They’re hockey players, not gods.
p.s.
The ultimate Yinzer trait is insisting on an unyielding fealty to “the good old days” at the expense of the future.
The Cup or nothing standard is one you apply to the Pens and then reject for the Bruins. So be it.
For the first time in 18 years, I saw the Pens play ONE meaningless game last year. One. For the first time in 18 years.
To whine about that would make me a garbage trash fan Yinzgrate. No thanks.
But, again…wouldn’t the Bruins have been better off trading some assets in order to be better in the future and keeping those draft picks? Without Bergeron and Krejci to sign wildly undermarket deals in order to circumvent the cap, the Bruins are in a significantly weaker position going forward now. Was that a mistake or does the President’s Trophy and first round loss make it worthwhile to you?
Here is the nice thing…I don’t need a single Yinzgrate to agree with me.
Just FSG.
And they do.
past 3 years the team fell apart when Jarry got hurt.
Pens absolutely outplayed Rangers in ’22.. Random 3rd string goalie who’s name escapes me could hold up tho.
Last year , same story, no Jarry, no playoffs. But were in 1st earlier in the season.
The team is still good enough to compete, and already solved a big issue with Graves signing.
I don’t see much if any decline in Sid, Geno or Letangs play (Malkins had some injuries)
and at least now, Nedeljkovic is a reasonable backup… for once.
At least you got Dubas on a free.
Yohe has become a lazy hack in recent years, but read the piece and tell me how he’s wrong.
He is not.
Unless it involve trading a first rounder without lottery protection, find a way to get it done.
Being able to put out a Norris caliber D man with EACH of our future HOF centers at all times would be a solid plan.
No lottery protection for you.
Foolish GM’s!!!!!! Karlsson is getting more attention than he deserves. No GM should bite on this and allow the new and unqualified Sharks GM Mike Grier look good.
This guy is a Left Winger masquerading as a defender.
Put Panarin back there and I bet he gets 100 points and -35 too
He’s an $11million dollar forward playing defence
Not worth the farm
Here’s the problem when teams let themselves be handcuffed by their star players. Crosby wanted to keep the gang together instead of an on-the-go retool. They should have let Malkin walk & acquired younger local JT Miller; shouldn’t have resigned Letang, instead doing a Vegas on FA day. Should not be chasing Karlsson but their new GM wants to put his stamp on this stale team…
Exactly, resigning Malkin for $6 million AAV and no assets was dumb, he only had 83 points in 82 games.
They should have given up assets they don’t have to get the more expensive Miller, he had 82 points in 81 games, after all.
And using your own words, Pittsburgh has zilch to show for it, didn’t they? However excellent Geno’s season was, the Penguins didn’t even make the playoffs.
The Pens played 81 meaningful games last year instead of ZERO.
Give them any kind of goaltending and they make the playoffs and maybe they go on the Panthers’ run.
And even if they don’t, our HOF players who WON US 3 Cups deserve that respect to let them try.
And we didn’t mortgage our future only to lose in the first round and end up with Morgan Geekie as our 1C.
You’re just ranting for the sake of ranting now. Sheesh. Think Geekie’s higher on the depth chart than Zacha or Coyle, do you?
I think those are three 3C’s. On a good team, at least.
As a Capitals’ fan, who hates Pittsburgh with every fibre of my being, I would love to see the Pens acquire Karlsson. Sure, strip your already last in the league farm system. Sure, cripple yourselves with another bad contract. Sure, mortgage your future, for a offenseman, who will in no way, shape, or form bring you another Stanley Cup. Do it Dubas. Washington, and other Penguins’ haters, will thank you.
And that would be even with fantasizing that Geno and Karlsson had yet ANOTHER healthy season. Malkin’s only had three seasons with over 70 games played in the last *fourteen years*. And what guy who isn’t high on crack is assuming that the Karlsson they get next year is the healthy superstar of 2023, and not the banged up wreck of the previous four years who was widely touted as being signed to the worst deal in hockey?
The Hawks had the same problem. Keep it together or break it up. They went to Kane and Toews and told them what they were going to and asked them if they wanted out, Just waive the NMC. They chose to stay and it worked out fine as nobody saw the Pandemic coming and Toews physical problems. But in the end everybody seems happy how it went. Do the same with Crosby, Letang and Malkin if that’s how you want to go, Or pick up more old has been’s and give it one more try for the Gipper
As a Caps fan you’re not thanking anyone, In the last 18 years you have won exactly ONE Stanley Cup with the greatest goal scorer possibly ever. The Pens missed the playoffs and still had a better season than the Craps did. The Pens best days may be behind them but their FIVE Cups will always shine over anything the Washington Crapitals can accomplish. Hey, there are always those Hersey Bears, because having a good farm system means so much. Just so you know great players don’t play minor-league hockey.
@prukavena
My team is headed in the right direction. Your’s isn’t. I’m all about the future, Chumley. The Pengwhines will suck for years. The Caps will suck for less time.
It was great watching Hershey win, because I appreciate minor league hockey, maybe even more than the NHL. It’s cheaper to attend, cheaper to stream, the players are more grounded, and less likely to be arrogant, and snotty.
BTW, 88% of current NHL players played in the AHL at one time. So there goes your lame theory that great hockey players don’t play minor league hockey.
So go on, watch those tattered old videotapes of Mario and Jagr. Live in the past. Anytime you want to join me in the present, feel free to do so.
Let me tell you about the minors, chump. I only managed to get to a handful of games in Springfield this past year; just bad timing. (When I do go, I can get a seat a dozen rows from the ice, centered, and pay a third as much than the nosebleed corner rafters seats in MSG or TD Garden.) And even with that, an intern in their sales office called me after the season ended, and chatted with me a few minutes about how I liked the games, and how I thought things could be improved.
And she called me BACK two weeks ago, to report to me what she’d discussed with management, and how some of my concerns could be addressed.
This is a team that held two midweek games this past year at 10:30 in the morning, so that they could pack in kids from the local schools (and had 75% attendance both days). This is a team that had a neurodivergent Saturday game last year, where they cut out the flashing lights and lowered the noise level by a third, to give those kids a fighting chance of getting through a game without running and hiding.
And this is a league where families and ordinary schleps can go to a game, can get a bite, maybe get hats or T-shirts, and not blow two days’ pay on it all. One in which those Hershey Bears you $hit on just won their ELEVENTH Cup, so suck on that one, pal. Enjoy paying a hundred bucks a night for mediocrity.
Canes are going to have Burns, Karlsson (who already didn’t mesh on the same team once) and DeAngelo on the same team? Two of them are going to end up on a PP2?
Sounds more like the Canes are a decoy team and the Pens are bidding against themselves.
Fair points but that DeAngelo deal hasn’t closed yet. Could walk away if they pull the trigger on Karlsson, or via versa… could put a little pressure on San Jose.
Can’t imagine Carolina wanting any part of DeAngelo if they had Karlsson.
Because he’s cheap! Like the budgie.
Who, DeAngelo? His other issues aside, he’s signed for $5 MM AAV next season. That’s an awful lot of money to pay for a guy with well known defensive problems and whose skills you wouldn’t use. How much PP time would he ever see on a Carolina that has Karlsson AND Burns?
On the plus side, if the Pena do trade for Karlsson, think of the sponsorship opportunities for the Pens as they keep getting older: AARP, Consumer Cellular, Life Alert…
The only way this works is if the send granlund and petry back to San Jose which is gonna require a huge over payment of draft picks
Petry yes, nobody is taking Granlund. It would be probably Petry, Desmith, Nieto and a pick with some money being retained, probably like $2.5M.
The Pens window is CLOSED, They are just spinning there wheels until Crosby retires,If Dubas is wanting to get Karlsson fine!!! But the Penguins will continue to look like an alumi team full of future HOFers.
I love how this collection of Walmart shelf stockers express their anger and jealousy over the Penguins and Dubas. And predict doom for the Penguins. Here is reality people. The NHL will be entering a new era. The cap is going to grow and with the next rights deals it will grow by quite a bit because of the added networks and streaming. The Penguins are owned by the Fenway Group, which will pour money into stocking the team with free agents. No free agent will be out of reach. So keep droning on about the draft and prospects. Keep drafting high school kids and watching them fail at such a high rate the hockey Pom Pom shakers are embarrassed to admit. The Penguins, Leafs, Rangers and Knights will be battling for free agents and dealing away draft picks. The NHL will look more like the NBA, where seven or eight teams at most will contend for championships and the rest will be feeder systems and irrelevant. Laugh now, but in a few years you will see what I mean.
I love how sock puppets magically pop up, when some folks with no life outside the internet, and anger control issues, can’t take a bit of criticism. Man , somebody must be making some psychiatrist rich.
PS no team has built a Cup winner with strictly free agents in years. All Cup winners build thru the draft, trades, and add free agents, to solidify the lineup.
If you think anyone’s jealous of a club that missed the playoffs and has a bunch of geezers on long term no-movements, you been sucking down too much Iron City beer.
This is pretty funny. Follow Boston sports much? You really think that Fenway’s going pour money into the PENGUINS, when their marquee team’s floundered four out of the last five years and they let superstars walk for lack of spending? Let’s spell it out: the value of Liverpool is $4.5 BILLION. The value of the Red Sox is $4 BILLION. The Penguins are less than a billion. I doubt Henry’s indifferent to the team, but their gross revenue is a quarter that of the Sox.
anybody got any realistic trade ideas between these 2 teams?
As a Canes fan, I’d rather see us upgrade our forwards than get Karlsson. Sign Tarasenko, trade Skjei to Calgary for Linholm, and sign TDA.