With a free agent market that isn’t particularly deep for right-shot defensemen, league sources tell Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli that there’s an expectation that Penguins blueliner Erik Karlsson could be in play this summer. The soon-to-be-35-year-old has put up 109 points in his two seasons with Pittsburgh, well above average although far below the 101 he tallied in his final year with San Jose. Meanwhile, his defensive game has continued to be inconsistent which could have GM Kyle Dubas looking to move him to shake up his team. Karlsson has two years left on his contract at $10MM per season (with the Sharks contributing $1.5MM more as part of the trade two summers ago) and the Penguins would undoubtedly need to pay that down to find a suitable trade for his services.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- The Kraken appeared to be getting close to hiring Washington assistant coach Mitch Love as their new head coach, according to Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Di Marco. However, those talks apparently stalled at the finish line. He relays that there may be a condition for the new bench boss to retain assistant Jessica Campbell which could be a deterrent to potential candidates who might want to bring in their own preferred group of assistants. Love is a speculative finalist for both the Pittsburgh and Boston openings as well so things falling apart late could also be a sign that a better offer came from one of the other teams.
- After not reporting to Philadelphia’s AHL affiliate after the regular season ended, many wondered if goaltender Aleksei Kolosov could be looking to return to the KHL. Sport-Express’ Artur Khairullin recently reported that the 23-year-old is expected to return to Dynamo Minsk next season, even though he’s under contract with the Flyers through next June. Kolosov played in a dozen games with Lehigh Valley early in the year and got into 17 more games with Philadelphia the rest of the way but struggled, posting a 3.59 GAA and a .867 SV% in those outings. With Kolosov on an NHL deal next season, the logistics of Kolosov returning to the KHL will need to be worked out, either by a mutual termination if Philadelphia is willing or his deal could ultimately be tolled at the NHL level.
Ha! So uncomically obvious about the Campbell thing. I love humans, and I’m not afraid to say she sucked. The “power play” was anything but and there’s no way to win enough when you can’t score on the PP. And while I’m at it, Matty Beniers is looking a big problem too. Why would any coach with any self respect sign a deal in Seattle this year?! Next year… well here’s hoping.
There is one Kraken fan channel talking about how soon Campbell will be head coach. The Kraken know their fans, I suppose
I think she’s going to be head coach….. of the Seattle PWHL team. I think the Kraken could have inside knowledge there and don’t want to annoy fans who like her by firing her just to have her still around in the building
Ideology is something that sounds good but doesn’t work in practice. Maybe in Seattle they haven’t figured out the latter. But if they actually have and still persevere for the sake of ideology, they’ll continue losing for as long as it takes.
I wouldn’t want to coach there because it could ruin my career. Bylsma is unlikely to get another HC job in the NHL.
Eat half his AAV, move him for a second and try to forget it ever happened.
I now see why he’s never won in his career.