Yesterday, it was Senators GM Bryan Murray expressing confidence he could reach a new contract with star defenseman Erik Karlsson.
Today, Karlsson echoed Murray’s optimism.
“Obviously, I want to get everything done before the season starts. With these kinds of things it can come to a certain point where both sides don’t agree on things – but hopefully that won’t be my situation,” Karlsson, 22, said on a conference call from Sweden, as per Sportsnet.ca. “We both have a pretty good dialogue. I have full confidence in my agents and in Ottawa that things are going to get done the proper way and both sides will be happy with it.
“Bryan is a reasonable person and I respect him a lot. Hopefully, it’s not going to be an issue where we stand eye to eye and we don’t agree.”
Both sides will want to avoid a Drew Doughty-like situation. The Kings’ defenseman ended up missing training camp over a contract dispute and struggled to find his game for much of the season. (He found it eventually.)
Murray and Karlsson’s agent are planning to meet next week at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas where Karlsson is a finalist for the Norris Trophy.