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Erik Karlsson: “They Probably Would Have Traded Me Anyway”

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In a spectacular interview with Sportsnet’s Christine Simpson, San Jose Sharks defenseman opens up about his exit from the Ottawa Senators and what exactly went on between him and management over the last few months. Karlsson confirms that a deal was extremely close at the trade deadline—though doesn’t give any hint on who would have acquired him—and discusses the contract offer that the Senators did make when he became eligible for an extension.

Yeah they did [make an offer]. They did. 

I don’t think it ever got to the point where I had an option to sign anything, it never even got close to that. And even if I would have signed, they probably would have traded me anyway and I would have been somewhere else. 

The Senators traded Karlsson, who was their captain at the time, on September 13th just as training camp was set to open and claimed that it was necessary for the rebuild that they are beginning. The team received a large package of assets including Chris Tierney and Dylan DeMelo, while the Sharks were happy to add Karlsson to a defense corps that already included Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Karlsson also spoke a little bit on the off-ice drama between his family and that of former teammate Mike Hoffman, explaining that no one else in the dressing room knew about the problems between them. Senators GM Pierre Dorion had claimed that the dressing room was “broken” at times last season, something that also needed to be addressed this summer.

Though the trade took quite a long time to actually be finalized, it seems as though—from Karlsson’s point of view at least—the Senators had made the decision to move on from their franchise defenseman months ago. A two-time Norris Trophy winner and one of the most dynamic players to ever play for Ottawa, he is still set to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason and could be out of the Senators’ price range altogether. Karlsson has been rumored to be after a Drew Doughty-like extension for his next deal, a contract that is worth $88MM over eight seasons. The Sharks can’t actually sign him to an eight-year deal until after this trade deadline given the current CBA, though they can certainly discuss it with him or ink a seven-year pact.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: San Jose Sharks

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Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2018-19 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

San Jose Sharks

Current Cap Hit: $75,119,584 (under the $79.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Dylan Gambrell (one year, $925K)
F Timo Meier (one year, $894K)
F Maxim Letunov (one year, $833K)
F Kevin Labanc (one year, $718K)

Potential Bonuses

Meier: $850K
Gambrell: $425K
Labanc: $183K

Total: $1.46MM

The team has gotten great play from their youth in the last couple of years as several players have taken that next step and become regular contributors to the Sharks’ lineup. Meier may be one of the best as the 21-year-old broke out with a 21-goal season last year. The ninth-overall pick in the 2015 draft looks ready to continue a top-six role and perhaps become a key contributor there for many more years. Meier is also playing for a big payday, so if he can take that next step and develop into a 30-goal winger, he would be heading in the right direction.

Gambrell only managed to appear in three games for the playoff-bound Sharks after he signed out of the University of Denver. The 22-year-old center is likely to force his way into a forward role in the bottom-six after he posted three straight 40-point seasons in college. Labanc, who had struggled with consistency in previous years with San Jose, finally broke into a full-time role with San Jose and produced 11 goals and 40 points. He could be primed for an even bigger year, just in time as his entry-level deal will run out.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Joe Pavelski ($6MM, UFA)
F Joe Thornton ($5MM, UFA)
F Joonas Donskoi ($1.9MM, UFA)
F Marcus Sorensen ($700K, UFA)
F Barclay Goodrow ($650K, RFA)
D Joakim Ryan ($650K, RFA)
D Tim Heed ($650K, UFA)

Much of the Sharks success in the next few years will come down to the play of Thornton and Pavelski, two players that have helped carry the team during their years of success. Both players are on their final year of their deal. Thornton signed a one-year deal and only time will tell whether he will continue that career at age 39. Despite suffering a torn MCL in January, he still posted solid numbers, scoring 13 goals and 36 points in 47 games. His days of posting 80 points are likely over, but if he can prove he can still produce, he could be back for several more one-year deals. Pavelski is another matter. The 34-year-old is starting to decline, but likely wants to ink one last long-term deal. While it makes sense that both sides will eventually come to an agreement, much is depending on the success that Pavelski has this season as well.

Donskoi shows improvement as well, posting a career-high 14 goals last season. His play improved to the point that he got some playing time on the first line as he generates shots as the team attempted 53.73 percent of five-on-five shots, while the team shot just 49 percent without him on the ice.Read more

Atlantic Notes: Red Wings, Krug, Reinhart, Kotkaniemi

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With the last piece of major housekeeping completed in Detroit after the Red Wings signed star Dylan Larkin to a five-year, $30.5MM deal, the team now has to take a look at their salary cap, which they will be over, even after they move forward Johan Franzen to LTIR. General manager Ken Holland told The Athletic’s Craig Custance, they will likely be “in the neighborhood” of $1MM over the cap.

“We’re very tight,” Holland said on Friday of the cap situation. “With this deal, we’re probably a dribble over. Not a lot, but we’re over. We’re going to have to make some decisions moving forward.”

One possibility would be to bury the contracts of Martin Frk and Luke Witkowski in the minors. However, if the team believes that veteran Henrik Zetterberg could end up missing the season as his injuries haven’t improved this summer, the team could place him on LTIR as well and wouldn’t have anything else to worry about. Custance adds, however, that if Zetterberg does return, that likely would end the chances of 2018 first-round pick Filip Zadina of making the roster out of training camp.

  • In a mailbag series, Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports writes that with eight quality NHL defenseman on the roster, the team will likely make a trade before the season starts. The team has Torey Krug, Zdeno Chara, Adam McQuaid, John Moore, Kevan Miller, Matt Grzelcyk, Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo on the roster. The scribe writes that could mean that the team might be ready to move Krug if the team can get a big return for the blueliner. And they would need to, as Krug is one of the top offensive defensemen in the league as only Erik Karlsson, Victor Hedman, Brent Burns and John Klingberg have more points over the last two seasons. He has 22 goals and 110 points combined in that time.
  • The Athletic’s Ryan Stimson (subscription required) wonders where restricted free agent Sam Reinhart should play next year in the Buffalo Sabres’ lineup once he signs. The 22-year-old center has been a decent center for the Sabres in the past, but saw his game blossom once he was moved up and played on the wing next to top-line center Jack Eichel. With the team moving on from Ryan O’Reilly and bringing in prospect Casey Mittelstadt, what should the team do with Reinhart? The scribe breaks down Reinhart’s game and wonders if it would be best for the youngster to take over the team’s No. 2 center position and ease Mittelstadt in.
  • The Athletic’s Mitch Brown (subscription required) ranks the Montreal Canadiens’ top five prospects with 2018 third-overall pick Jesperi Kotkaniemi listed as their top prospect. The young centerman, who flew up the draft boards in the final weeks, anchors a list of prospects that Brown believes is the most exciting in the last five or six years. He has been successful playing in the SM-liiga as an 18-year-old and is expected to fill that long-waited hole in the middle.

San Jose Sharks Could Look Very Similar Next Season

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Many have felt for some time now that the San Jose Sharks could be a team to watch in the upcoming off-season. It’s not often that a team can have the depth and talent of a contender with almost all of their key players locked up and also have an immense amount of cap space, but that is the exact situation that the Sharks are facing this summer. Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Brent Burns, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic are all elite players under contract, while reliable pieces like Mikkel Boedker, Justin Braun, and Brenden Dillon have term remaining as well. Yet, the Sharks will still enter the off-season with nearly $15MM in cap space and few holes to fill. For that reason, some have speculated that John Tavares or John Carlson could be headed for San Jose or that the team could load up on other second-tier top free agents.

However, the Sharks are actually somewhat limited in what they can do this summer. A side effect of having so many players locked up is that San Jose actually has little flexibility in terms of straightforward roster management on the free agent market. The Sharks have just nine free agents total, unrestricted and restricted, far and away the fewest in the league as most teams generally have about twenty. Entering the off-season, they will already have 38 of their 50 maximum contracts already in place for next season. Assuming that key restricted free agents like Tomas Hertl, Chris Tierney, and Dylan DeMelo return, that number is already up to 41. It is almost fortunate that top prospects Josh Norris, Scott Reedy, and Mario Ferraro all chose to return to their college teams or that number would be even higher.

Regardless, the Sharks will be left with less than ten slots to add new players unless they start to trade away or buyout existing contracts. If long-time leader and fan favorite Joe Thornton re-signs, there is one less. If deadline addition Evander Kane, who has fit in very well in San Jose, decides to stay put, there’s another one. If the Sharks land a player worth immediate ice time at #21 in the first round of the NHL Draft, that’s yet another spot filled up. No team wants to enter the season with so few contract slots that their hands are tied when the opportunity to make a trade to improve the roster comes around. San Jose also doesn’t want to sign too many multi-year deals with players like Couture, Pavelski, Timo Meier, and Joakim Ryan in need of extensions next season as well.

As such, the Sharks actually seem likely to make only one or two free agent additions this summer – as they did last summer – unless major trades open up some more space in the organization. Could one of those additions be a Tavares or a Carlson? Sure, but if those players choose to go elsewhere, San Jose instead seems far likely to stick with what they have and go into next season with flexibility. Don’t expect the drastically different Sharks roster that some have predicted – it may only lead to a letdown of expectations this summer.

Poll: Who Should Win The 2017-18 Norris Trophy?

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There was much debate in the hockey world yesterday when the NHL released their three finalists for the Norris Trophy. The award, given to the best defenseman in the league, always stirs up controversy of some sort over who was snubbed. This year, that honor could go to John Carlson who scored more points than any other blueliner in the league but didn’t have his name mentioned in the final group.

P.K. Subban. Drew Doughty. Victor Hedman. Who should be taking home the trophy this season? Don’t vote on who you think will win, but who should win after the season they put up. We’ll list the finalists and some of the other common nominees to see if our readership would have selected the same three nominees.

Make sure to explain your reasoning in the comment section!

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Eastern Notes: Kane, Budaj, Sanheim, Reaves

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Evander Kane has found a new home, at least for the rest of this year. While it’s too early to know whether he will stay in San Jose for the foreseeable future, the Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington writes that the Sharks might be the best fit for the 26-year-old personality. In a 10-point notebook on Kane, Harrington writes that what Kane really needs is to be on a veteran team who will tell him how things work, something that he did not have in Buffalo.

The Sharks, who are loaded in veterans such as Joe Thornton, Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski, Joel Ward and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, should be able to have some controlling effect on Kane. Thornton already proved that when the veteran picked Kane up from the airport in a limousine after the trade. He also writes that Kane already is showing off his speed with San Jose as he’s tallied up three assists in two games with the Sharks. That speed was not very apparent over the past couple of months in Buffalo, but the scribe writes that Kane was well aware Buffalo management wanted to move on from him and may have lost interest in sacrificing himself for the Sabres.

Harrington also adds that general manager Jason Botterill should have made a trade earlier when Kane was hot. Knowing his reputation, which only got worse in the last couple of months with his teammates, they never were likely to get the asking price that Botterill was demanding. In the end, it was quite obvious that only veteran teams showed interest in Kane as the runner-up at the deadline was the Anaheim Ducks.

Due to his reputation, Harrington wonders whether Kane will be forced to take a lesser deal this offseason. Players at his age and skill should be getting a long-term deals at $6-7MM, but Kane may be forced to accept something closer to a four-year term if teams continue to worry about his ability to co-exist with his teammates.

  • Tampa Bay Times’ Joe Smith tweets that Tampa Bay Lightning backup goalie Peter Budaj, who hasn’t played since Dec. 29, is really close to returning to the team. The team could have a decision to make, however, as emergency backup Louis Domingue has won four of his six starts and has played well for Tampa Bay. Domingue, who has a 3.29 GAA and a .905 save percentage would have to be officially recalled, however, if they want to keep the 25-year-old. The team has already used two of their four allotted recalls on Anthony Cirelli and Adam Erne, so the team may not want to use a third recall yet and might stick with Budaj. The 35-year-old has struggled with Tampa Bay this year, however, with a 3.80 GAA and a .878 save percentage.
  • John Boruk of NBC Sports Philadelphia writes that the Philadelphia Flyers talked to the Ottawa Senators right before the trade deadline about acquiring winger Mike Hoffman. The scribe writes that sources have said the Senators asked for a package that included defenseman Travis Sanheim and a first-round pick as a starting point. While a first-rounder (they have two of them this year) might have been a possibility, Sanheim proved to be the deal-breaker.
  • Providence Journal’s Mark Divver tweets that he spoke to a pro scout who believes the Pittsburgh Penguins made a mistake when they traded enforcer Ryan Reaves to the Vegas Golden Knights last week. While Reaves took a lot of criticism for his lack of offense with the Penguins, he provided the team with leadership and a physicality the team really needed. The scribe writes that the Penguins struggled when things got tough Thursday when they played the Boston Bruins.

San Jose Sharks Have Looked Into Erik Karlsson

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This is not a match many would have seen coming, but TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the San Jose Sharks are among the teams that have had talks with the Ottawa Senators about all-world defenseman Erik Karlsson. The rumors are growing that Karlsson could be moved ahead of Monday’s trade deadline or, at least, this off-season. Could the Sharks be a dark horse destination?

In a way, it makes sense. Ever since it was revealed that Senators GM Pierre Dorion was seeking a team to take the contract of Bobby Ryan – $7.25MM over four more years – as part of any deal for Eriksson, it narrowed the field considerably of who could possibly even afford to acquire such players, without bringing in a third team. One such team that is a contender and could afford to bring in both Karlsson and Ryan are the Sharks, who will have over $18MM in salary cap space entering the off-season. LeBrun also notes that it is not out of the ordinary for Sharks GM Doug Wilson to inquire into every available player. LeBrun calls San Jose “big-game hunters”, citing their trades for Joe Thornton and Brent Burns over the years and their push to sign Steven Stamkos two years ago. The Sharks have also been mentioned as a possible destination for John Tavares, should he decide not to re-sign with the New York Islanders.

However, one has to wonder if this rumor is more fiction than fact. While the Sharks may have the cap space and the big splash history, the fit doesn’t make much sense. The reason the team has had interest in Stamkos and Tavares is because they need another major piece up front, especially with 38-year-old Thornton unlikely to return. There is no similar concern on the blue line. Burns is fresh off a Norris Trophy last season and right up there with Karlsson as one of the best defenseman in the league. He’s also signed for seven more years to the tune of $56MM. Marc-Edouard Vlasic is one of the league’s top defensive rearguards and begins his own eight-year, $56MM extension next season. Justin Braun and Brenden Dillon are both in their primes and signed for two more years at reasonable rates, while youngsters Dylan DeMelo and Joakim Ryan have taken a step forward this season. Even the system is well-stocked, with promising blue liners like Jeremy Roy, currently in the AHL, and Mario Ferraro of UMass. The Sharks are a top-ten team in goals against and shots against and arguably the best penalty kill unit in the NHL. Defense is the least of their worries, so why then would they sell off multiple high-value assets and take on a terrible contract to acquire, of all things, another defenseman? The answer is they wouldn’t. No one can blame Wilson for checking in, if he did, but more likely this is the Senators exaggerating interest to drive up the price on Karlsson. Don’t expect a top pairing of Norris Trophy winners in San Jose any time soon, unless Vlasic is ever rewarded for his stellar two-way play.

All-Star Skills Competition Assignments Released

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With the All-Star game one day away, many NHL fans often get more excited for the 2018 GEICO NHL All-Star Skills Competition, which will be tonight. The NHL released the list of who will be participating in each of the six competitions with the winner of each receiving $25K.

Enterprise NHL Fastest Skater – Each skater is timed for one full lap around the rink.
Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Rickard Rakell (Anaheim Ducks)
Noah Hanifin (Carolina Hurricanes)
Josh Bailey (New York Islanders)
Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche)
Jack Eichel (Buffalo Sabres)
Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers)

Dunkin Donuts NHL Passing Challenge – Requires three skills over one round, including Target Passing (making four passes to a target that light up randomly), Give-and-Go (must complete four successful passes through a course in the neutral zone) and Mini Nets (must complete four passes over barricades and into mini-nets).
Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers)
Brayden Schenn (St. Louis Blues)
Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Arizona Coyotes)
Eric Staal (Minnesota Wild)
Alex Pietrangelo (St. Louis Blues)
Kris Letang (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Drew Doughty (Los Angeles Kings)

GEICO NHL Save Streak – Goalies attempt to win by making the most consecutive saves against an opposing division on a minimum of nine shots.
Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers) vs. Central Division
Connor Hellebuyck (Vancouver Canucks) vs. Pacific Division
Pekka Rinne (Nashville Predators) vs. Metropolitan Division
Marc-Andre Fleury (Vegas Golden Knights) vs. Atlantic Division
Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning) vs. Central Division

Gatorade NHL Puck Control Relay – A timed event that involves three skills, including Stickhandling (where a skater must control a puck through a series of eight pucks in a straight line), Cone Control (where a skater controls a puck through a series of eight cones in a zig-zag formation) and Gates (where a skater must shoot or choose to guide the puck through a lighted rung of a gate).
Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames)
Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers)
Erik Karlsson (Ottawa Senators)
John Tavares (New York Islanders)
Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers)
Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Tyler Seguin (Dallas Stars)
Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks)

PPG NHL Hardest Shot – Over two rounds, each player will attempt two shots measured in miles per hour with the highest speed recorded.
John Klingberg (Dallas Stars)
Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals)
P.K. Subban (Nashville Predators)
Brent Burns (San Jose Sharks)
Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Honda NHL Shooting Accuracy – A timed event in which a skater is positioned 25 feet behind the goal line and must shoot at five LED targets in the goal. A target will light up and the players has three seconds to hit it.
Brian Boyle (New Jersey Devils)
Blake Wheeler (Winnipeg Jets)
James Neal (Vegas Golden Knights)
Brock Boeser (Vancouver Canucks)
Brad Marchand (Boston Bruins)
Anze Kopitar (Los Angeles Kings)
Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning)

2018 All-Star Rosters

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The NHL released the rosters for this year’s All-Star game in Tampa Bay, leading to an inevitable onslaught of discussion over who missed out and who didn’t deserve to go. The event will take place on January 27-28th. The full rosters can be found below:

Atlantic Division:

F Steven Stamkos – Tampa Bay Lightning (captain)
F Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay Lightning
F Auston Matthews – Toronto Maple Leafs
F Aleksander Barkov – Florida Panthers
F Brad Marchand – Boston Bruins
F Jack Eichel – Buffalo Sabres
D Victor Hedman – Tampa Bay Lightning
D Erik Karlsson – Ottawa Senators
D Mike Green – Detroit Red Wings
G Andrei Vasilevskiy – Tampa Bay Lightning
G Carey Price – Montreal Canadiens

Head Coach: Jon Cooper

Metropolitan Division:

F Alex Ovechkin – Washington Capitals (captain)
F Taylor Hall – New Jersey Devils
F Sidney Crosby – Pittsburgh Penguins
F Josh Bailey – New York Islanders
F John Tavares – New York Islanders
F Claude Giroux – Philadelphia Flyers
D Seth Jones – Columbus Blue Jackets
D Noah Hanifin – Carolina Hurricanes
D Kris Letang – Pittsburgh Penguins
G Henrik Lundqvist – New York Rangers
G Braden Holtby – Washington Capitals

Head Coach: Barry Trotz

Central Division:

F Patrick Kane – Chicago Blackhawks
F Nathan MacKinnon – Colorado Avalanche
F Blake Wheeler – Winnipeg Jets
F Brayden Schenn – St. Louis Blues
F Eric Staal – Minnesota Wild
F Tyler Seguin – Dallas Stars
D P.K. Subban – Nashville Predators (captain)
D Alex Pietrangelo – St. Louis Blues
D John Klingberg – Dallas Stars
G Pekka Rinne – Nashville Predators
G Connor Hellebuyck – Winnipeg Jets

Head Coach: Peter Laviolette

Pacific Division:

F Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers (captain)
F Johnny Gaudreau – Calgary Flames
F Brock Boeser – Vancouver Canucks
F James Neal – Vegas Golden Knights
F Rickard Rakell – Anaheim Ducks
F Anze Kopitar – Los Angeles Kings
D Drew Doughty – Los Angeles Kings
D Brent Burns – San Jose Sharks
D Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Arizona Coyotes
G Jonathan Quick – Los Angeles Kings
G Marc-Andre Fleury – Vegas Golden Knights

Head Coach: Gerard Gallant

Calgary Places Frolik On IR, Recalls Mangiapane

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1:35: Postmedia’s Kristen Odlund tweets that the prognosis for Frolik is he will be out four to six weeks.

12:29: The Calgary Flames already knew it was coming when winger Michael Frolik suffered a fractured jaw while trying to block a shot by San Jose’s Brent Burns in Thursday’s game. However, Sportsnet’s John Shannon tweets the team finally placed the 29-year-old on injured reserve today after he underwent surgery Saturday night to repair his broken jaw.

While no timetable has been discussed, Frolik is expected to miss multiple weeks as he recovers from the surgery. His offense had been down a bit this season as he has just seven goals and eight assists through 37 games, but has been playing on the team’s second line most of the season. He had 17 goals and 44 points last season.

The team did recall their AHL’s top scorer as the team promoted Andrew Mangiapane Sunday to replace Frolik. A former sixth-round pick in 2015, the 21-year-old has thrived in the AHL in two seasons, and currently leads the Stockton Heat with 14 goals and 19 assists, which is on pace for a bigger season than his 20-goal output with Stockton last year. Mangiapane is expected to be inserted into the Flames lineup immediately and is expected to play on the team’s fourth line in tonight’s matchup against Chicago.

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