BREAKING: Erik Karlsson may want out of San Jose - team to enter rebuild?

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Ryan
April 7, 2022 (8:23 PM)

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Erik Karlsson was once one of the best offensive defenceman and often talked about as the best overall defenceman in the entire NHL as a member of the Ottawa Senators. He won the Norris trophy twice and put up 60+ points 6 of his 9 years as a member of the Ottawa Senators.

On September 13th 2018, he was traded from Ottawa Senators with Francis Perron to San Jose Sharks for Dylan DeMelo, Chris Tierney, Rudolfs Balcers, Josh Norris, round 2 pick in the 2019 draft (Jamieson Rees) & conditional round 1 pick in the 2020 draft (Tim Stutzle).

Needless to say, this trade has turned out great in Ottawa favour as Josh Norris has turned into a 30 goal scorer, Tim Stutzle is one of the best up-and-coming players and Tierney is just icing on the cake.

Meanwhile Karlsson has not surpassed 45 points or played in more than 56 games in a single season for the San Jose Sharks, who have also not even come close to the playoffs since Karlssons first season in 18-19.

Breaking news today was that General Manager Doug Wilson is stepping down because of ongoing health problems. Apparently there is a feeling that this could trigger an official rebuild in San Jose.

Karlsson was asked today if he could be on the move from the new coming GM, which he replied:

Karlsson, on a new GM coming in: "We're in a position right now, where we haven't done very well for an extended period of time. We should feel a bit uneasy. Things are going to change, things are gonna have to change."� Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 7, 2022

The only issue now is, who could take on Karlsson's contract? He is getting $11,500,000 until the 2026-27 season, and his current production does not equal the contract dollars for any team.

If San Jose wanted to move Karlsson, a large portion of salary is going to need to be retained and that may not be in the books for the Sharks.