If we are to take the Ottawa Senators at their word, they will be offering Erik Karlsson a long-term extension tomorrow to keep him in the city for the next nine seasons.
But if we also read the situation realistically, it probably won’t be a good enough offer, and Karlsson could be traded to another team as soon as tomorrow. It might not happen so quickly, but it’s something that I’m prepared for. Whenever a star player is traded for less than he is worth, the team always needs to justify themselves beyond hockey reasons, and rumours will usually circulate about his character or how he didn’t fit in the dressing room.
I’ll say right now that if that happens, don’t be a person who villainizes Karlsson. Whatever is going to be said is probably not true, and we know that this whole situation is not on him.
I have no idea if he is still willing to sign an extension in Ottawa, but we know that he’s loved most of his time here. His wife is from Ottawa, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to still keep a house in the city even if he got traded. The thing is though, he isn’t going to take a hometown discount, nor should he have to. Connor McDavid is making $12.5M, Drew Doughty is now at $11M and Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are at $10.5M. Karlsson certainly belongs in that group, as somewhere above $10.5M is worth it considering the going rate for superstar players nowadays.
He knows that he can get that elsewhere too, and he shouldn’t have to cheap out on a contract just because Eugene Melnyk can’t run a team properly. I have no idea what the Senators actual offer will be, but I can’t imagine it being something that he wants to take. And even if it is close, I don’t blame him at all for wanting out if that becomes the case.
No matter if he doesn’t get a good enough offer or if he just simply wants out of this circus, Karlsson should receive zero vitriol from the fanbase. This isn’t a Dany Heatley or Alexei Yashin situation we have here, this is the heart and soul of the Senators and the best player in franchise history who wants/wanted to be a Senator for life. I know for a fact there will be some who say that he is being greedy, but a) why would you take less money knowing that 30 other teams would happily pay more?, and b) I don’t blame him for not trusting the organization.
Just think about what Karlsson has done for this team. He has averaged 68 points per season since 2009, has two Norris trophies, two other Norris-worthy seasons, and single-handedly brought the Senators to game 7 of the Conference Finals in 2017. You could make the case that without him, they would not have even been a playoff team in any season since 2010. Plus he has been the best defenseman in the world while making a paltry $6.5M after already winning a Norris. He’s been underpaid for long enough.
Then you also have to factor in everything he’s gone through this past year. First, he lost one of his best friends Marc Methot in the expansion draft. Then he had surgery in the off-season and it took him half a season to finally look like his skating was all the way back. The team around him began to crumble while the media kept talking about his “bad season… (which was mainly just a ton of bad luck), and the Senators nose-dived in the standings. Think about all the teammates and friends he has lost just in one year:
Since the miracle run of 2017, the #Sens have now subtracted: Turris, Hoffman, Brassard, Phaneuf, Methot, Neil, Stalberg, MacArthur, Burrows, Claesson, Kelly and Wingels. A lot of leadership in that group.
— Jeremy Milks (@BlackAcesOtt) June 26, 2018
On the ice and in the dressing room, it was the worst possible season you can imagine.
Yet that pales in comparison to the pain he had to endure off the ice, as his wife Melinda Karlsson gave birth to their stillborn child Axel on March 19th, 2018. I can’t even imagine what they were (and still are) going through, and it puts everything else into perspective. The Karlsson’s received lots of love after the fact, but of course we know the story about Monika Caryk allegedly harassing Melinda throughout this time.
Even if those allegations are not true, somebody sent those messages, and that was something that the Karlsson’s did not deserve to go through. On and off the ice, the 2017-18 season was a nightmare for Erik, and he deserves so much better than that.
I don’t even care if he asks for a trade out of Ottawa at this point, because I can’t even blame him. The organization is a complete mess right now, and I don’t know why you’d want to commit with them, even if you do love the city. No matter what, Karlsson cannot be villainized by fans, and if you do, you’re losing sight of what the real problem is: Eugene Melnyk.