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We now know that Pierre Dorion offered Erik Karlsson a contract yesterday. Whether there was an actual negotiation that went on remains to be seen, and I didn’t get the sense that the two sides were actively in talks. So yes, Dorion did keep his promise that the Senators would offer him a contract on July 1st, but it obviously wasn’t good enough, or else we’d be hearing about how they are close or at least involved in negotiations.
There are still some people out there holding out hope that a deal can get done, but I just can’t see it happening. Even Bruce Garrioch talked about trade talks heating up:
Not only that, Larry Brooks of the New York Post is reporting that Ottawa is looking at a potential sign and trade with a few teams. If the Senators can get more in return because a team knows that they will have Karlsson for the next nine seasons, then I say go for it.
Obviously I’d much rather have Karlsson stay in Ottawa, but if they are going to end up trading him anyway, they might as well be creative and maximize their return. Another interesting thing to point out from this is that if he only wants a Doughty contract, not offering him $11M is a terrible look for the franchise.
I don’t know if we’ll ever know that the Senators offer yesterday was, but I would have to assume that it wasn’t very close to what he wanted. So the fact that Ottawa can’t even match $11M is another sign that Eugene Melnyk cannot continue to run this team. Or if they did offer that but Karlsson declined because of the state of the organization, that’s still a terrible look.
It’s funny because as I’m writing this, more and more information keeps coming out regarding a possible Karlsson deal, as apparently 6-7 teams are expressing interest in him:
Here are the more obvious teams:
Vegas Golden Knights
They have to be at the top of the list. Have to be. They currently have $18.75M in cap space, and have the ability to take on Bobby Ryan’s contract too if need be. They have the assets like Colin Miller, Shea Theodore, Alex Tuch, Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki, and draft picks to get a deal done. It won’t take all of those pieces in order to finalize a deal, but they can certainly offer a solid package.
They were so close to a Cup this spring, and adding Karlsson could put them over the edge.
Tampa Bay Lightning
They would have to get creative, but it’s possible. They have just under $4.5M in cap space, so they would need to include someone like Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, or Alex Killorn going the other way. I don’t think either one of Brayden Point or Mikhail Sergachev would be on the table, but they still have good prospects like Taylor Raddysh, Cal Foote, Connor Ingram, and Boris Katchouk.
It would take a lot of maneuvering, but don’t count out the Lightning yet.
San Jose Sharks
The Sharks missed out on John Tavares, and they have $8.2M in cap space. They’d still need to move some money around for next year in order to fit Karlsson, but they might be a team to push in all their chips because they realize that their core is aging.
They don’t have nearly as good prospects as anyone else, but they still have a few players like Timo Meier, Kevin Labanc, and Jayden Halbgewachs. They would probably have to include more picks in a trade, but they might be willing to give up more because of their desire to keep their window open.
New York Rangers
I...I don’t get what the Rangers are doing if they truly want Karlsson. They’re sort of going through a rebuild, and they made some trades to get a ton of draft picks at the trade deadline, which was smart. They have some good pieces, but going after Karlsson now would be a weird move.
The Rangers have $23.7M in cap space, so that isn’t an issue at all. In terms of prospects, they could offer players like Lias Andersson, Filip Chytil, Brady Skjei, and Pavel Buchnevich. I doubt they’ll end up getting Karlsson, but they are apparently interested.
New York Islanders
I have no idea what the Islanders are doing, but Pagnotta listed them as a potential suitor. They now have $24M in cap space after losing John Tavares, so they have the ability to take on Bobby Ryan’s contract as well.
The Islanders have a lot of good prospects available such as Kieffer Bellows, Ilya Sorokin, Oliver Wahlstrom, Noah Dobson, and Josh Ho-Sang. In terms of roster players, they could look at giving up players such as Casey Cizikas, Brock Nelson, and Ryan Pulock.
This would be a strange fit, but they might feel like they need to make a splash after losing their franchise centreman.
Colorado Avalanche
I haven’t officially seen them be connected to Ottawa, but as long as they have the Senators first round pick next year, I’m sure Dorion will be trying to re-acquire it. The Avalanche would love to add a superstar defenseman to a squad that has been subpar on the backend for years.
Stay tuned, because you never know when a trade could actually happen...
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