Erik Karlsson Trade Talk

[Josh]

Will he stay or will he go?

[Alfie11]

It would seem like this is where negotiations stand with interested teams:

Vegas

We know a deal with them was close to being done at the deadline, and probably again around the draft. They have promising pieces they Ottawa would likely get, including Shea Theodore, Collin Miller and Erik Brannstorm. Around the deadline, the deadlbreaker seemed to be Vegas' hesitation of including Cody Glass and we're not sure if that's changed. Vegas' biggest asset is their willingness to take on Bobby Ryan's contract.

Dallas

The Stars emerged pretty late to the party, as reportedly the front runner, but just as fast, they seem to be done. The Stars seem very set in their ways of including Honka rather than Heiskanen. That's a huge difference, and seems to be the breaking point that means Karlsson won't end up in Dallas.

Tampa Bay

They've been in the running since the deadline, much like Vegas. They got McDonagh, and signed him to an extension, which seemed to signal they had moved on from Karlsson. But, over the last few days, they've emerged as the heavy frontrunners. Don Brennan said a credible source told him Karlsson would end up in Tampa. The Lightning certainly have the most intriguing list of players they could offer - including Sergachev, Point, Foote, Killorn and Gourde. A third team would have to be involved for cap purposes, but if they could make it fit, their team would be absolutely stacked.

[Josh]

It would seem like this is where negotiations stand with interested teams:

Vegas

We know a deal with them was close to being done at the deadline, and probably again around the draft. They have promising pieces they Ottawa would likely get, including Shea Theodore, Collin Miller and Erik Brannstorm. Around the deadline, the deadlbreaker seemed to be Vegas' hesitation of including Cody Glass and we're not sure if that's changed. Vegas' biggest asset is their willingness to take on Bobby Ryan's contract.

Dallas

The Stars emerged pretty late to the party, as reportedly the front runner, but just as fast, they seem to be done. The Stars seem very set in their ways of including Honka rather than Heiskanen. That's a huge difference, and seems to be the breaking point that means Karlsson won't end up in Dallas.

Tampa Bay

They've been in the running since the deadline, much like Vegas. They got McDonagh, and signed him to an extension, which seemed to signal they had moved on from Karlsson. But, over the last few days, they've emerged as the heavy frontrunners. Don Brennan said a credible source told him Karlsson would end up in Tampa. The Lightning certainly have the most intriguing list of players they could offer - including Sergachev, Point, Foote, Killorn and Gourde. A third team would have to be involved for cap purposes, but if they could make it fit, their team would be absolutely stacked.

With things narrowed down to those three teams, here are my top-ten wanted acquisitions from each of them (alphabetical order):

Dallas
Curtis Douglas
Esa Lindell
Jamie Benn
Jason Robertson
John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen
Radek Faksa
Roope Hintz
Stephen Johns
Ty Dellandrea

Tampa
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Boris Katchouk
Brayden Point
Cal Foote
J.T. Miller
Louis Domingue
Mikhail Sergachev
Nikita Kucherov
Steven Stamkos
Yanni Gourde

Vegas
Alex Tuch
Cody Glass
Colin Miller
Erik Brannstrom
Jonathan Marchessault
Malcolm Subban
Nate Schmidt
Nick Suzuki
Shea Theodore
William Karlsson

[matchesmalone]

I am expecting the return will be a young top-6 forward, a young top-4 D, a pick and a prospect.

Seems unlikely any of Klingberg, Point, W. Karlsson or Marchessault move. Would be a huge win for Dorion if they do.

Some possible scenarios (I am not even considering the cap situation or possible 3rd teams at the moment):

Tampa - Sergachev, Miller/Gourde, Raddysh/Katchouk/Foote, 2nd or 3rd rounder.

Dallas - Lindell, Shore/Faksa, Heiskanen, 1st rounder (I know they won't want to move Heiskanen, but they simply don't have the l quality roster pieces Vegas or Tampa do, so I don't see what choice they would have).

Vegas - Tuch/Haula, Theodore, Brannstrom/Glass/Suzuki, 1st or 2nd rounder.

[Josh]

I am expecting the return will be a young top-6 forward, a young top-4 D, a pick and a prospect.

Seems unlikely any of Klingberg, Point, W. Karlsson or Marchessault move. Would be a huge win for Dorion if they do.

Some possible scenarios (I am not even considering the cap situation or possible 3rd teams at the moment):

Tampa - Sergachev, Miller/Gourde, Raddysh/Katchouk/Foote, 2nd or 3rd rounder.

Dallas - Lindell, Shore/Faksa, Heiskanen, 1st rounder (I know they won't want to move Heiskanen, but they simply don't have the l quality roster pieces Vegas or Tampa do, so I don't see what choice they would have).

Vegas - Tuch/Haula, Theodore, Brannstrom/Glass/Suzuki, 1st or 2nd rounder.

I’d take the Tampa or Vegas options from that list and lean towards Tampa.

[Matt the Aussie]

Tampa just re-signed Kucherov to 8 years, $9.5M per. I don't know enough about their cap situation but that's gotta affect their ability to extend Karlsson long-term?

[thedaigle1]

I'd be interested in a trade with the Ottawa Senators. They have some good players in their system including:

Erik Karlsson
Mike Hoffman
Johnathan Dahlen
Jakob Silfverberg
Mika Zibanejad
Fredrik Claesson
Matt Puempel
Patrick Wiercioch
Stefan Noeson

[Josh]

I'd be interested in a trade with the Ottawa Senators. They have some good players in their system including:

Erik Karlsson
Mike Hoffman
Johnathan Dahlen
Jakob Silfverberg
Mika Zibanejad
Fredrik Claesson
Matt Puempel
Patrick Wiercioch
Stefan Noeson

Those guys are all offensive dynamos. I’d prefer some of the character and grit players like Burrows, Gaborik, Pyatt, and Smith. Those guys are where the real credit for Ottawa’s success is due.

[Dean Ambrose]

Tampa just re-signed Kucherov to 8 years, $9.5M per. I don't know enough about their cap situation but that's gotta affect their ability to extend Karlsson long-term?

nope. Girardi, Coburn off the books next season and Callahan in two years. Someone would have to eat Callahan's contract, but they can make it work.

They have $13m projected in cap space next season (factoring in an $82m cap space, it'll go up though, even if just a bit). If they get someone to eat Callahan's deal, that's another $5.8m off the books, so they'd have enough to sign Karlsson and re-sign Stralman.

It only becomes tricky if they have to end up deciding between Gourde and Point, unless they get rid of Killorn too so they can keep both while transitioning Cirelli in full-time. They're fine cap wise.


Thing is... unless Karlsson is extended, I see why teams like Dallas don't want to part with Heiskanen, and TB might not want to part with Sergachev.

[Matt the Aussie]

Those guys are all offensive dynamos. I’d prefer some of the character and grit players like Burrows, Gaborik, Pyatt, and Smith. Those guys are where the real credit for Ottawa’s success is due.

Dude...Gabby's got neither of those things??!! And Burrows retired? What are we gonna do now?

I for one am looking forward to crushing Tom Pyatt's soul. He is perfectly capable as a PK/bottom 6, but let's instead make him look really bad playing 18 minutes a night on line 2!

[thedaigle1]

The thing I'm trying to express here is that as much as I appreciate how y'all can get excited about the potential prospects coming back in an EK trade, I've seen this movie before. It has been barely five years since the last rebuild and the team colossally botched that so I really don't see why fans should expect better results with the same owner now that he has less money and a GM who's less competent than his predecessor. This pool of prospects may be larger and more diverse than before. However, I think that is mitigated by the fact that this organization has no sense of how to value and manage its assets. There's a cart without any horses to pull it, ya know?

[Josh]

The thing I'm trying to express here is that as much as I appreciate how y'all can get excited about the potential prospects coming back in an EK trade, I've seen this movie before. It has been barely five years since the last rebuild and the team colossally botched that so I really don't see why fans should expect better results with the same owner now that he has less money and a GM who's less competent than his predecessor. This pool of prospects may be larger and more diverse than before. However, I think that is mitigated by the fact that this organization has no sense of how to value and manage its assets. There's a cart without any horses to pull it, ya know?

Kind of like how Jared Cowen was gonna be the best thing since sliced bread?

[thedaigle1]

Kind of like how Jared Cowen was gonna be the best thing since sliced bread?

Don't you mean Brian Lee?

[thedaigle1]

And then they actually DO fucking draft the best thing since sliced bread in the form of a defender in the first round and he becomes a generational talent and the best player in franchise history and puts the team on his back year after year so the organization is going to trade him for more magic fucking beans. Needless to say that I'm fucking done with the Melnyk/Dorion regime if they trade EK regardless of the return.

[Josh]

So I know this is crazy talk, but is there a chance that Ottawa could be better off without Karlsson? It seemed to me that the powerplay was better without him, as with him it was just the same old “get the puck to EK”. That’s just my eye test though - and I have a terrible memory - the stats probably prove me wrong. And sure, that’s how Washington plays the PP with Ovi and they just won a championship, but Ottawa doesn’t have the supporting cast that maybe a player of EK’s talent needs for both the player and team to truly thrive. Think about putting Gordon Ramsay in a McDonalds - on paper you’d think that would be great for the location, but I bet it would actually lower efficiency and production as he’s trying to turn a Big Mac into Beef Wellington or some shit.

And then there’s the locker room. Is his ego too big for a team of scrubs? Everyone rushed to ostracize Hoffman, and rightly so if the version of events we got is accurate - but was it? And why did Anderson request a trade almost as soon as Hoff was gone and EK was still around? Unrelated, or is there more than what meets the eye?