With the Penguins known to be sellers this summer, there has been plenty of speculation about the future of some of their veterans. While wingers Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell have been generating a lot of attention, one other veteran that seemingly could be in play is blueliner Erik Karlsson.
The 35-year-old has two years left on his contract with the Penguins responsible for $10MM of his $11.5MM cap charge and San Jose covering the remainder. Notably, a $5MM signing bonus this summer has already been paid, meaning his total cash compensation remaining is $11.5MM over the final two years combined, $1.5MM of which again is covered by the Sharks.
While Karlsson has a no-move clause, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic recently reported in his latest podcast (audio link) that he is willing to be moved. However, he adds that there are only a few teams the veteran is willing to move to; Johnston didn’t identify any of the potential landing spots Karlsson would be amenable to going to.
While Karlsson hasn’t been able to come close to the 101 points he put up just two seasons ago, he’s still an above-average offensive blueliner, notching 56 and 53 points over the last two years while logging over 23 minutes a night. While he’s never been elite on the defensive side of things, he’s still a legitimate impact player.
To that end, Johnston notes that Pittsburgh isn’t viewing Karlsson as merely a cap dump. If he is to be moved, GM Kyle Dubas will be expecting a positive-value return and in the current environment, he has a good chance to land that. The UFA market for blueliners is largely dried up now while more than one-third of the league has the cap space to take on the remainder of his contract outright without salary retention. Meanwhile, if Pittsburgh were to retain some money or take players back, several more teams could get into the mix as well.
Depending on which teams Karlsson is willing to move to, Pittsburgh actually might have more realistic options than San Jose did two summers ago when very few teams had the ability to add the bulk of his contract. Despite the drop in production, that should have Dubas in decent shape in terms of trying to build some sort of market for his defender’s services, especially if there are suitors that value the cap hit being higher than the remaining cash outlay.
But, even in a salary cap environment that’s set to jump again considerably next summer, moving Karlsson for even close to full value will be a challenge. That said, the Penguins didn’t pay close to full value for him two summers ago when he was coming off his third Norris Trophy win. So, while Pittsburgh is in decent shape to get something of value for Karlsson, it’s unlikely they’ll get a key element to their rebuild in a package. And with Karlsson holding the cards with a full veto if he doesn’t want to go to a specific team, the Penguins could yet lose some leverage in discussions.
While it might make sense to wait for an in-season move if injuries strike, the summer is generally considered an easier time to make bigger moves work on the salary cap side. With that in mind, Karlsson is a player to keep an eye on in the coming weeks with teams still looking to add to their rosters in a market where demand greatly outweighs supply.