Try to picture this: A blue line with Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson on it. Together. That would be a whole lot of fun, wouldn’t it?
That may have seemed farfetched a few months ago, but not anymore. According to TSN 1200’s AJ Jakubec, the San Jose Sharks are making a push to acquire Karlsson from the Ottawa Senators. TSN.ca’s Travis Yost backup up Jakubec’s report.
Before Sharks fans get too excited, the report also mentions that the “Bobby Ryan factor” is complicating things, which isn’t unexpected at all. Ryan has four years left on his contract that comes with a cap hit of $7.25 million, and the Sens want to include him in any deal involving Karlsson.
Any team adding Karlsson and Ryan would be taking on $13.75 million. That’s why any trade involving the Swedish defenseman would likely have to include a third party willing to take Ryan or at least a portion of his contract.
As for San Jose, they have quite a bit of money coming off the books this summer (Joe Thornton’s $8 million, Joel Ward’s $3.275 million and Jannik Hansen’s $2 million), but they already have $24.17 million committed to their top five blue liners in 2018-19 with Burns, Paul Martin, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Justin Braun and Brendan Dillon. Adding Karlsson would take them over $30 million, but that’ll be the least of their worries if they can make this trade happen.
The Sharks still have their first-round pick to use as a trade chip, but they have no picks in the second or third rounds.
MORE: Pro Hockey Talk 2018 NHL Trade Deadline Tracker
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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.