NHL Insider says Canadian team made a significant push for Karlsson long before he went to Pittsburgh

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Mike Armenti
August 8, 2023 (9:55)

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With the Erik Karlsson sweepstakes finally over, after he was dealt from the San Jose Sharks to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a three-team trade on Monday, we're beginning to get a clearer picture of who was involved in talks with the Sharks over the last few months, showing significant interest.

The Sharks retained a portion of Karlsson's salary, 13% to be exact ($1.5 million), but the haul they got wasn't nearly as large as was originally anticipated for the reigning Norris Trophy winner.

The Penguins, as we know, were one of a number of teams that were linked to Karlsson over the last several weeks. The most interested parties also included Carolina, Seattle and Toronto, but according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, there was another Canadian team knocking on the door during the season, leading up to the deadline as well.

Friedman recently shared that the Edmonton Oilers made a push for Karlsson, but the Sharks were holding out for a huge return, including multiple first round picks. Instead of pursuing Karlsson, the Oilers pivoted to Mattias Ekholm of the Nashville Predators.

As we know now, the Oilers missed out on having a top power play unit that contained all 3 of McDavid, Draisaitl and Karlsson. This one, however, likely had more to do with Karlsson's cap hit and Sharks GM Mike Grier not being too keen on retaining a larger portion of Karlsson's salary, such as the 50% that he'd likely have retain in a deal involving the Oilers.

At any rate, Karlsson is now a Pittsburgh Penguin, and we'll have the honour of watching a top Pittsburgh PP unit that will likely contain the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson - unless the plan is to utilize Letang as the shooting threat from the point on PP2.