Trouble on the Erik Karlsson trade front; talks stall with teams reportedly unhappy with Sharks' asking price
With much of the attention this summer on the continued Erik Karlsson saga and where he might land, the San Jose Sharks seem to have a bit of a snag in trade negotiations. The snag is related to how the team views Karlsson as a legitimate superstar and wanting to get a substantial return for the 33-year-old, even if he does have an outlandish contract.
Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli revealed as much on Tuesday, suggesting that with the Sharks only willing to retain 20% of Karlsson's contract, leaving him with a $9.2M cap hit, teams may have temporarily put trade talks on the shelf, giving the Sharks time to reconsider their stance on what type of a package they'd be willing to accept for Karlsson.
"The Sharks are still looking for a significant return for Erik Karlsson, and they haven't found one team that's willing to give them anywhere close to that, and so those teams have all essentially sat back and said, �Hey, call us in August. You let us know when you want to talk and we can pick this up again, but we're not giving you anything significant.' And that's problematic for the Sharks, because they think this is a player that you have to get a return for, and more than that, they don't really want to get nothing and retain 20 percent on this player just to get him off their books.
So, I think the hang-up has been a little bit along the same lines that we heard back at the trade deadline, which is, the Sharks are looking for a significant deal and they're not properly valuing the cap space, the freedom, the flexibility from getting off of an $11.5 million player. And that's really what's holding this back." - Seravalli on the stalled trade talks for Erik Karlsson
So, I think the hang-up has been a little bit along the same lines that we heard back at the trade deadline, which is, the Sharks are looking for a significant deal and they're not properly valuing the cap space, the freedom, the flexibility from getting off of an $11.5 million player. And that's really what's holding this back." - Seravalli on the stalled trade talks for Erik Karlsson
Karlsson played in all 82 games for the Sharks last season and recorded 101 points (25 goals, 76 assists), en route to his third Norris Trophy win. There are reportedly as many as four teams interested in Karlsson, including Pittsburgh, Carolina, Seattle and Toronto.
| POLL | ||
Where do you think Erik Karlsson will be playing on opening night of the 2023-24 season? | ||
| Carolina | 13 | 15.3 % |
| Pittsburgh | 42 | 49.4 % |
| Seattle | 17 | 20 % |
| Toronto | 13 | 15.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
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