Pittsburgh Penguins Acquire Erik Karlsson In Three-Team Deal
The Erik Karlsson trade saga is finally over. The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired the 2023 Norris Trophy winner from the San Jose Sharks, according to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the Montreal Canadiens are involved in the trade to aid in salary considerations. Pittsburgh later officially announced the massive deal, which includes 12 parts and breaks down as follows:
PIT receives: D Erik Karlsson, F Rem Pitlick, F Dillion Hamaliuk, 2026 third-round pick (SJS)
SJS receives: 2024 first-round pick (PIT, top-ten protected), F Mikael Granlund, D Jan Rutta, F Mike Hoffman
MTL receives: 2025 second-round pick (PIT), D Jeff Petry, G Casey DeSmith, F Nathan Legare
San Jose is retaining $1.5MM of Karlsson’s $11.5MM cap hit through 2026-27. Montreal is retaining no salary on Karlsson in this trade, meaning the Penguins have Karlsson at a massive $10MM cap hit for four more seasons. Pittsburgh also retains $1.5625MM, or 25%, of Petry’s cap hit. Montreal will have him at a cap hit of $4.6875MM through 2025.
Sportsnet’s Eric Engels also believes Montreal is not Petry’s final destination. The Canadiens are likely to flip their former number-one defenseman before next season starts, potentially retaining up to 50 percent on his already reduced cap hit, making him cost just $2.34MM against the cap for his new team.
Pittsburgh has a net cap hit loss of $3.1MM in this trade, per CapFriendly. By doing so, they’ll likely be able to activate Jake Guentzel and his $6MM cap hit from LTIR when he’s ready to return to the ice in November without making any corresponding moves. CapFriendly projected Pittsburgh with $2.75MM in cap space, with Guentzel on LTIR to start the season.
Karlsson, 33, ended an up-and-down five-year stint with the Sharks on a high note. Despite playing on a bottom-five team in the league, Karlsson’s 101 points in 82 games were the most from a defenseman in a single season since Brian Leetch in 1991-92. Once viewed as the best defenseman in the NHL during his time with the Ottawa Senators in the mid-2010s, the Sharks acquired him in a blockbuster deal in 2018 and later extended him on a massive eight-year, $92MM contract, giving him the highest cap hit in the league among defensemen.
However, it was a decision that failed to pan out the way San Jose envisioned, as Karlsson struggled with injuries during most of his time in California. To make matters worse, the team around him also crumbled as the Sharks fell out of yearly playoff contention for the first time this millennium.
Pittsburgh hopes Karlsson’s turnaround last season has given him renewed confidence heading into the latter half of his contract – assuming his recent injury history doesn’t come back to bite him. 2022-23 was the first time Karlsson had played in 70-plus games since 2017-18, his last season with the Senators.
Many will be concerned with Karlsson’s defensive misgivings, but some slightly reduced ice time in Pittsburgh should lessen his negative impact on the team’s goals-against total. Likely to slot in on the team’s second pairing behind Kris Letang, Karlsson should be paired with either Marcus Pettersson or free-agent acquisition Ryan Graves on the left side, both players with strong defensive reputations. Advanced metrics peg Pettersson near the top of the league in terms of his individual even strength defensive impact.
Pitlick could be an under-the-radar add for Pittsburgh in this deal from Montreal. While he’s far from being a long-term fixture, he is on the younger side (in Pittsburgh, at least) at 26 years old and will add some higher-upside depth scoring to a Penguins lineup that needs it, especially with Guentzel on the shelf to start the year. In 2021-22, Pitlick notched 15 goals, 22 assists and 37 points in 66 games split between the Canadiens and Minnesota Wild. He’s struggled to develop an all-around game at the NHL level, though, and he’s more of a finishing and playmaking specialist than anything else. His overall play-driving impacts are poor, and it led to Montreal stashing him in the minors for a fair bit of last season. There, he registered 22 points in 18 games with the AHL’s Laval Rocket.
Hamaliuk, 22, once had a fair bit of upside – after all, San Jose thought he warranted a second-round selection in the 2019 NHL Draft. Injuries and middling performance since turning pro have wiped out nearly all of his stock, though. He played in just six games last season, all in the ECHL with the Wichita Thunder, although he did look good in limited action with seven points. The Penguins will likely watch him closely in the minors with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins next season to see if he can recapture some of his former potential.
For the Sharks, trading Karlsson while only retaining $1.5MM is a solid bit of work for general manager Mike Grier. However, the return is rather underwhelming – a likely mid-first-round pick and a trio of depth NHL assets that won’t amount to much value for a rebuilding team. They’ve essentially taken on two bad contracts and a depth defender to rid themselves of long-term financial pain, as despite his elite skill, Karlsson absolutely did not factor into the franchise’s long-term plans post-rebuild.
The trade does provide a fresh start for Granlund, a former top-six fixture who struggled mightily after heading to the Penguins from the Nashville Predators at last year’s trade deadline (just five points in 21 games). He is just one campaign removed from a 64-point season, however, and although his possession metrics are quite poor, he does still carry a fair amount of raw skill that could see him once again elevate into a top-six role on a weak Sharks team, potentially playing alongside Alexander Barabanov and Logan Couture. With two seasons left at a $5MM cap hit, the Sharks could look to flip him at the 2024 trade deadline if he has a strong season, likely with significant salary retention. However, as CapFriendly notes, San Jose has just one of their three salary retention slots remaining for the next two seasons after also retaining salary on Brent Burns when they traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes last summer. In total, the Sharks are left with $7.745MM in dead cap space this year after the two salary retentions, plus the buyouts of goalie Martin Jones and forward Rudolfs Balcers.
Rutta is under contract at $2.75MM for two more seasons, and he’ll likely give the Sharks a fair amount of value. The two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning could very well step into a top-four role for the Sharks, who will likely roll three pairings by committee this season in the absence of a clear number-one defender. Rutta recorded nine points in 56 games for the Penguins last season, his only season in the Steel City while averaging 17:07 of ice time per game. Pittsburgh signed the 33-year-old to a three-year, $8.25MM contract in free agency last summer.
Clearing Hoffman’s $4.5MM cap hit for this season off the books is a solid bit of business for the Canadiens, who were rumored to be considering waiving Hoffman ahead of next season and assigning him to the AHL’s Laval Rocket. There’s no guarantee he’ll be able to escape the same fate with San Jose, however. The Sharks will undoubtedly prioritize roster spots for younger wingers like William Eklund, Filip Zadina and Fabian Zetterlund, leaving Hoffman without a clear place among the Sharks’ top 12 forwards. Now 33, Hoffman did manage 14 goals and 34 points in 67 games for Montreal last year, but he ranks among the worst play-driving forwards in the league and is solely a power-play specialist at this stage in his career. Some will remember this is technically Hoffman’s second stint as a member of the Sharks organization – San Jose acquired him from Ottawa for a few hours in 2018 before flipping him to the Florida Panthers.
Now, moving on to Montreal, who became an unexpected major player in this deal. Petry may not remain with his former team, as mentioned earlier, and DeSmith may not either. He’s a puzzling addition for a team that already has Sam Montembeault and Jake Allen manning the crease, although Pittsburgh did need to move out a goalie after signing Alex Nedeljkovic in free agency, giving them three NHL goalies on their roster. However, Montreal now faces the same predicament, and DeSmith is unlikely to supersede Allen or Montembeault on the team’s depth chart. If they don’t flip him to another team looking for a backup netminder, DeSmith could be waived to start the season and end up with Laval. He started a career-high 33 games for Pittsburgh last season, and the 31-year-old recorded a 15-16-4 record, .905 save percentage, and no shutouts.
Legare is a depth addition who will suit up for Laval next season. The 22-year-old third-round pick of the Penguins in 2019 is still finding his footing in the minors. Last season, he posted eight goals, 11 assists and 19 points in 68 games with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Penguins, Sharks Getting Closer To Erik Karlsson Trade
With the window for the Pittsburgh Penguins to clear cap space via a buyout closing today, rumors around the team closing a deal that would bring all-world defenseman Erik Karlsson to Pennsylvania are continuing to heat up. The team is making a “legit attempt” to get a trade done today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet says. Friedman expects a third team to be involved in the transaction to help facilitate any salary cap issues.
During a TV appearance on NHL Network earlier this week, Friedman said that “clarity” could come on a Karlsson trade as soon as this weekend. Considering the general reporting on Karlsson has focused significantly on the Penguins over the past few weeks, it’s beginning to seem like an eventuality that a deal will get done, even if the teams involved can’t iron out all the details today. Karlsson acknowledged that the Seattle Kraken and Toronto Maple Leafs were also in trade talks with San Jose last month. At the same time, the Carolina Hurricanes were widely believed to be in discussions to acquire this year’s Norris Trophy winner.
However, there’s still no indication of what the final trade will look like. Undoubtedly, it’ll become quite a complex deal with multiple salary cap-related maneuvers necessary. Even with winger Jake Guentzel projected to start the season on LTIR, CapFriendly projects the Penguins with just over $2.75MM in cap space, making it a tight fit for Pittsburgh even if they buy out Mikael Granlund today or move him to the Sharks in the final trade. San Jose has expressed unwillingness to retain significant salary in the deal, meaning Pittsburgh will likely have to pay an extra draft pick to a third team to retain additional cash, as Friedman alluded to today. The Penguins will also need to find the cap room to activate Guentzel about a month into the season when he’s slated to return.
Acquiring Karlsson would, at the moment, give Pittsburgh one of the most offensively potent right-side defenses in the league with Karlsson, Kris Letang and Jeff Petry. Petry is not expected to be involved in the pending trade, with previous reports indicating the Sharks are on his 15-team no-trade list. It’ll also be one of the most expensive right sides in the league, with Letang and Petry already costing a combined $12.35MM against the cap.
As a reminder, Karlsson is under contract for four more seasons at an $11.5MM cap hit. The Sharks and a third team are expected to retain at least a combined $3.5MM to bring Karlsson’s cap hit in Pittsburgh down to $8MM or less.
Morning Notes: Hlinka Gretzky, Buyout Windows, Barbashev
The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is often a short and sweet tournament, and this year’s was no exception. In this season’s first major showcase for the 2024 NHL Draft Class, Canada’s U18 contingent won their second straight gold medal by defeating Czechia in overtime yesterday thanks to a rather brilliant effort from forward Malcolm Spence of the OHL’s Erie Otters, who’s still just 16 years old and won’t be NHL draft-eligible until 2025.
While Canadian forward and presumptive 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini wasn’t with the team at this event, perhaps their second-best draft-eligible talent next season was – forward Berkly Catton of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. Projected by some to be a top-five selection, he didn’t disappoint, leading the Canadian contingent with ten points in five games at the tournament. Another likely top-ten pick, defenseman Henry Mews, did quite well, leading Canadian defensemen in scoring with seven points. For the silver medal-winning Czechs, 2025-eligible center Adam Benák was undoubtedly the star of the show, recording two goals and eight assists for ten points in all five games. Potential 2024 first-round selection Adam Titlbach, who’s set to join the WHL’s Vancouver Giants this season, led the team in goal-scoring with five goals and three assists for eight points. The United States took home the bronze medal at the tournament led by 2024-eligible forward Trevor Connelly, who notched five goals and five assists for ten points.
Other notes from around the hockey world to kick off this Sunday in August:
- After settling their final arbitration cases with Drew O’Connor and Troy Terry, the second buyout window this offseason for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks closes today, respectively. While the Ducks are extremely unlikely to utilize a buyout at this point in the offseason, Pittsburgh will be a team to watch today. As covered at length this week, the team’s salary cap situation is being kept a close eye on by almost everyone as the team closes in on trying to acquire defenseman Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks. Their most likely buyout candidate is 2023 trade deadline acquisition Mikael Granlund, who’s locked in for this season and next at a $5MM cap hit and had just five points in 21 games with Pittsburgh after arriving from the Nashville Predators. Per CapFriendly, a Granlund buyout would provide the Penguins with over $4.1MM in savings this season.
- The QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes acquired New York Rangers forward prospect Maxim Barbashev from the Moncton Wildcats via trade earlier this month, according to the league. The Rangers selected the Moscow-born left wing in the fifth round of the 2022 Draft, and he went on to have a rather strong campaign in 2022-23 with 32 goals, 33 assists and 65 points in 67 games with Moncton. All those numbers were career highs. He joins Los Angeles Kings defense prospect Angus Booth as the second NHL-drafted prospect on the Cataractes in 2023-24.
Looking At The Buffalo Sabres’ Defense Crunch
Even though the Buffalo Sabres signed some much-needed defensemen as the off-season started, they now face a problem: having too many of them. With the signing of Erik Johnson and Connor Clifton, they now have nine defensemen on their active roster and twenty-four players.
Those two signings make sense, as the team has struggled with their defense depth for some time. However, Don Granato and their coaching staff have a few hard decisions to make as the new season approaches. There are a few reasonable options to send down to the AHL or trade entirely. One of them is an obvious choice, as The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski commented on earlier in the week.
Jacob Bryson played 59 games last year, most of those paired with Ilya Lyubushkin. He missed six games with injuries and was healthy scratched for 17 throughout the year. His stats don’t make his case any better. In the games he did play, his advanced metrics are not the best. In addition to being scratched a lot, Bryson averaged less than 15 minutes a night – weak minutes, even for a bottom-pairing defender. On a team that needed their defense to step up, Granato didn’t seem too impressed with the 25-year-old, and neither were most Sabres fans.
When compared with his fellow defensemen, it becomes clear that Bryson is the best option to leave out. Mattias Samuelsson will be healthy to start the year, Clifton and Johnson were signed to help in the back end, Power and Dahlin are set to take another step forward, and there isn’t much space to be average among a quickly growing Sabres core.
Another player that the Sabres could consider sending down or trying to trade is Henri Jokiharju, who also didn’t have a great season in 2022-23. His advanced metrics were slightly better than Bryson’s, and Granato played him in the top four with Power for the majority of the season. The pairing didn’t pass with flying colors, though, and it’s likely a driving reason why they signed Clifton. With that said, Jokiharju did play over 20 minutes a night – something Clifton hasn’t done to date with the Bruins, and there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to replicate his strong play from last year with increased responsibility.
The team could also look to waive Riley Stillman, who has one year left at a $1.35MM cap hit and is, from a financial standpoint, the easiest player to cut ties with. His cap hit is just $200K over the buriable threshold, which is what he would cost against the cap if assigned to the minors. The team parted with a quality prospect in Josh Bloom to acquire him from the Vancouver Canucks last season, however, and he did hold his own defensively in Buffalo’s environment. He does carry a rather limited offensive upside, but he may be a more ideal seventh (or eighth) defenseman candidate than others mentioned in this piece.
With last season’s arrival of Owen Power and the signing of Lyubushkin, Bryson needed to impress to keep his job, and he failed to do so. Now, the team has signed substitutes for him, and he has become replaceable. Likely, the stars need to align for him to get a spot on the team when the new season starts.
Metropolitan Notes: Johnston, Nosek, Penguins
It is unlikely forward Ross Johnston remains on the New York Islanders’ NHL roster for the entire upcoming season, according to Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. Despite acknowledging Johnston’s dedication, demeanor and other positive off-ice intangibles, Kurz argues carrying an enforcer with limited playing time is not practical in today’s league. The expectation is the team will either try to trade Johnston before or during training camp or reassign him to the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders to free up cap space.
The Islanders made Johnston one of the most oft-healthy scratched players in the league in 2022-23, only playing him in 16 out of a possible 88 combined regular-season and playoff games. Johnston did not have any sustained injuries or suspensions on record last season, nor was he ever assigned to the minors for conditioning purposes or otherwise. He posted two assists and 37 penalty minutes in 7:48 of ice time per game, and moving him will be a tough sell with three years remaining at a $1.1MM cap hit. In seven seasons as an Islander, Johnston has suited up in just 134 games despite being given 11 total contract years from the team.
Elsewhere in the Metropolitan Division tonight:
- Czech forward Tomas Nosek expressed his desire to stay with the Boston Bruins after a successful season, but they showed little interest in re-signing him. However, a phone call from Czech legend Patrik Elias convinced him to join the New Jersey Devils on a one-year, one-way deal worth $1MM, notes Ryan Novozinsky of NJ.com. Nosek’s decision was influenced by Elias’ praise for the Devils and their potential to compete for the Stanley Cup, telling Novozinsky the call from Elias “made a positive impact on my decision.” Now with almost 400 NHL games under his belt, Nosek aims to continue his personal six-year playoff streak with the Devils and will likely factor in heavily on their penalty kill while playing a fourth-line center role, as he’s done with success in recent years for the Bruins and Vegas Golden Knights.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have brought in Cam Charron as a hockey research and development analyst, according to the team’s staff listing on their website. It’s yet another add for the Penguins from general manager Kyle Dubas’ former regime in Toronto, where Charron served as an analyst from 2014 to 2022. Based in Vancouver, Charron took his year off last season to enter the media sphere, serving as a contributor for The Athletic.
Snapshots: Stars, Lindholm, Michkov
The Dallas Stars announced a flurry of minor hockey operations moves today, headlined by carving out an official role for former netminder Ben Bishop in the organization. He’ll serve with the team as a player development coordinator in his first officially outlined front-office job in the NHL. Bishop, who’d last played in the NHL during the 2020 postseason and was forced to retire due to injuries, could not officially take a job with the team while still under an NHL contract with another organization, the Buffalo Sabres, whom Dallas traded the final season of his contract to for financial relief after it became clear Bishop wouldn’t play again.
Bishop played three seasons for the Stars from 2017 to 2020, earning a 74-48-11 record in 143 regular-season appearances with a .923 save percentage, a 2.33 goals-against average, and 14 shutouts. In the postseason, he played 16 games for Dallas, achieving an 8-8 record with a .920 save percentage and a 2.67 goals-against average, shining most brightly in the starting role in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, eventually losing to the champion St. Louis Blues in seven games in the Second Round. Throughout his career with St. Louis, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, and Dallas, Bishop amassed a 222-128-36 record in 413 regular-season appearances with a .921 save percentage, a 2.32 goals-against average, and 33 shutouts.
Elsewhere in NHL-related items today:
- While speculation is increasing about potential trades for Calgary Flames center Elias Lindholm, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on NHL Network yesterday that it hasn’t been backed up by actual talks within league circles. Calgary surely remains in talks to attempt to extend Lindholm, and it’s becoming more and more likely he’ll at least start the season with the team. Surely, the Flames will look to get off to a strong start not just for standings purposes but also to help convince Lindholm and Mikael Backlund, their two most important remaining pending UFAs, to stick around.
- One of the concerns that caused star Russian prospect Matvei Michkov to fall all the way to the Philadelphia Flyers at seventh overall earlier this month was the lack of control over his development. He’s under contract with KHL club SKA St. Petersburg for three more seasons, leaving the Flyers without any immediate input into his post-draft development. That fact’s already become notable as, speaking with Match TV, Michkov revealed SKA plans to try the natural winger at center next season. Obviously, there’s no telling how such a move will work out so early on in a player’s professional development, but it’s an interesting wrinkle in Michkov’s pro career overseas worth keeping an eye on as the season progresses.
East Notes: Sabres, Allison, Pridham
Defensemen Jacob Bryson and Ilya Lyubushkin could be in play on the trade market ahead of the regular season, the Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski said today. In Bryson’s case, he could find his way off the team via waivers as well, as there will be a significant roster crunch in Buffalo with nine defensemen signed to one-way contracts. The team added Connor Clifton and Stanley Cup champion Erik Johnson via free agency to bolster their back end, pushing anyone not named Mattias Samuelsson, Owen Power, or Rasmus Dahlin two spots down the team’s depth chart.
Both Bryson and Lyubushkin have just one year of term left on their contracts, making them easily movable if Buffalo so chooses. However, both of their cap hits aren’t the best value – Bryson is a seventh defender on a contending team at best, making $1.85MM against the cap, while Lyubushkin is a capable shutdown defender but limited otherwise and costs $2.75MM. It’s hard to envision a contending team trading for those pieces at those salaries, but the Sabres could find a willing trade partner among teams like the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks, who may want to plug some short-term holes in their blueline.
More from around the Eastern Conference:
- Winger Wade Allison is likely facing a make-or-break year with the Philadelphia Flyers, writes Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic. While he has potential as an intriguing young power forward, the team has a number of higher-upside, younger wingers fighting for spots, such as Bobby Brink, Olle Lycksell, and Tyson Foerster. Allison did score nine goals in 60 games last season but dealt with a handful of injuries, something that’s becoming a worrying track record for a player who sustained a significant ACL tear to end his college career and missed most of the previous two seasons before last. If he can’t improve on his production or force his way onto some special teams unit, he’s a potential non-tender candidate next offseason as a pending restricted free agent.
- Toronto Maple Leafs assistant general manager Brandon Pridham is likely sticking with the organization despite rumors to the contrary, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said while appearing on NHL Network yesterday. Friedman connected Pridham’s preference to stay in Toronto to new Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas’ wait on filling the GM position in Pittsburgh full-time, saying Pridham was his top candidate for the Penguins’ GM role. Instead, Pridham informed the Leafs earlier this summer that he’d prefer to stay with the organization instead of following his former boss to Pittsburgh. The Penguins announced yesterday that Dubas will serve as the team’s full-time GM in addition to his president of hockey operations role.
Bob Murdoch Passes Away
Longtime former NHL player and coach Bob Murdoch has passed away at the age of 76 after a four-year battle with Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinsonism, and Alzheimer’s, the NHL Alumni Association said today. Murdoch spent the first three seasons of his career with the Montreal Canadiens from 1970 to 1973 before he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, where he would play until 1979. He was traded again to the Atlanta Flames, the franchise with which he would finish out his NHL career, retiring in 1982 after staying with the team during their move to Calgary.
Murdoch then spent a decade in the NHL as a coach with the Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Winnipeg Jets, and San Jose Sharks. His stints with Chicago and Winnipeg were in head coaching roles, and he won a Jack Adams award in his first season with the Jets in 1989-90 after the team made a 21-point jump in the standings from the prior season.
Undrafted, Murdoch made his way to Montreal at 24 after playing for the Canadian national team and in the minors for the Montreal Voyageurs of AHL. While his role with the team was limited in the first two of his three seasons there, he did suit up in the postseason for Montreal’s Stanley Cup victories in 1971 and 1973. After a breakout year in 1972-73, recording 24 points in 69 games, he garnered a first-round pick on the trade market and was shipped to the Kings.
Murdoch had the best years of his career in California, consistently posting double-digit point totals and playing a strong brand of physical, two-way hockey. In 1974-75, he recorded career highs across the board with 13 goals, 29 assists, 42 points, a +39 rating, and 116 penalty minutes in 80 games. He earned year-end All-Star team consideration that year.
After retiring and then leaving the NHL coaching circle in 1993, Murdoch headed overseas, where he coached in Germany. He lasted just half a season with Mad Dogs München in 1994-95 but immediately found a new job in the DEL with Kölner Haie, where he stayed until 1997. He followed that up with a three-year stint behind the bench of the Nürnberg Ice Tigers from 1999 to 2002. Most recently, he served as a scout for the WHL’s Tri-City Americans from 2013 to 2015.
We at PHR send our condolences to Murdoch’s family, friends, and former teammates.
“Clarity” On Erik Karlsson Trade Could Come This Weekend
The Pittsburgh Penguins could finally be inching closer to landing defenseman Erik Karlsson with a second buyout window opening for the team this weekend. The pursuit of Karlsson by the Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes and others has been a dominant storyline for the past two months, and now there’s a sense that some clarity might be on the horizon, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on NHL Network yesterday.
Now armed with some additional salary cap flexibility thanks to Jake Guentzel‘s ankle injury that should place him on LTIR for the first month of the season, the Penguins have more dice to roll in regard to a Karlsson deal. The team could also free up more space through that second buyout window, using one on someone like Mikael Granlund, who’s locked in at a $5MM AAV for two more seasons. It would be a change in pace for GM Kyle Dubas, though, who’s expressed publically he’s hesitant to go the buyout route. As GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he offloaded a first-round pick for the Carolina Hurricanes to take and buy out the final season of Patrick Marleau‘s contract in 2019.
That being said, there aren’t a whole lot of other options for the Penguins to free up enough space to make a deal unless the Sharks are willing to take on a bad contract or two in return. The latter is unlikely, given they’re undoubtedly going to retain more salary than they’re comfortable with to facilitate a Karlsson trade. With Friedman hearing there’s increased activity this week on the Penguins/Karlsson train, it’s not hard to connect the dots on Dubas’ potential cap-clearing plans.
While the list of teams connected to Karlsson is largely public knowledge at this point, what a potential deal could look like isn’t. It’s been reported multiple times that San Jose will likely have to retain at least $3.5MM of Karlsson’s $11MM cap hit for four more seasons to move him out, but other than that, it’s anyone’s guess as to what amount of roster players, picks, and prospects it’ll take to win a bidding war for last year’s Norris Trophy winner.
Speculatively, one player who could head to San Jose is 23-year-old defenseman Ty Smith. The 2018 17th-overall pick burst onto the scene with 23 points in just 48 games during his rookie season with the New Jersey Devils in 2020-21, but he struggled heavily on the defensive end of things the following season and was traded to Pittsburgh in 2022. He spent most of last season in the minors, only skating nine games with the Penguins, but he’ll need waivers to return there next season if he can’t find a spot in the NHL lineup. On a team with paper-thin defensive depth such as San Jose, he’d likely immediately factor in as a top-four threat.
It’s worth noting that Pittsburgh also has all six of their first- and second-round picks in the next three drafts.
Washington Capitals Sign Tom Wilson To Seven-Year Extension
The Washington Capitals have re-signed winger Tom Wilson to a seven-year, $45.5MM extension, per a team announcement. The contract will kick in for the 2024-25 campaign and run through 2030-31, carrying a $6.5MM cap hit.
CapFriendly reports the full breakdown of Wilson’s deal, which carries a 15-team no-trade clause until 2027-28 and a ten-team no-trade clause for the remainder:
2024-25: $4MM salary, $5MM signing bonus
2025-26: $4.5MM salary, $3MM signing bonus
2026-27: $3.625MM salary, $2MM signing bonus
2027-28: $4.3MM salary, $2MM signing bonus
2028-29: $4.275MM salary, $2MM signing bonus
2029-30: $900K salary, $4.5MM signing bonus
2030-31: $900K salary, $4.5MM signing bonus
Signing a long-term deal puts Wilson in line to become one of the longest-tenured players in Washington’s history. Drafted 16th overall in 2012, the 29-year-old already has ten full seasons with Washington under his belt, a tenure that includes the franchise’s only Stanley Cup win in 2018.
It was after lifting the Stanley Cup that Wilson transformed into the player we know him as today, though. Since their victory, he’s become a fixture in the team’s top six, often playing the opposite wing on Alex Ovechkin‘s line. He’s scored 98 goals in 289 games since 2018-19, the third-most of any Capital during that time behind Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie. Now routinely averaging top-six minutes at over 17 minutes a game, Wilson is giving the Capitals his best blend of goal-scoring while dialing his trademark physicality down to an acceptable level in his prime. In fact, he’s recorded under 100 penalty minutes for four straight seasons after finishing over the century mark six times to begin his career.
Last season was a tough one for Wilson, though, as it was for many of his teammates, with Washington missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014. His offensive pace was in line with what we’ve come to expect, but he played in just 33 games thanks to a knee injury that cost him the first half of the season. Still, he managed 13 goals and nine assists for 22 points after his return.
Wilson was entering the final season of a six-year, $31MM contract signed after Washington’s Cup win in 2018 – one that was heavily criticized at the time. It was viewed as a risky bet on Wilson’s potential rather than what he’d displayed up until that point. Although they were fair points then, Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan was quickly proven right – Wilson’s scored at least 20 goals in every season in which he’s been fully healthy since the deal kicked in. His new long-term extension will keep him in a Capitals jersey until age 37 and could very well be the last deal he ever signs.
That being said, Wilson’s style of play does not lend itself to longevity. Expecting him to be able to perform at his cap hit by the end of this contract is illogical, to say the least. There’s a strong chance his $6.5MM cap hit ends up on LTIR before the deal runs out. As CapFriendly notes, the lower salary with high signing bonuses in the final seasons of the deal also makes Wilson’s contract much harder to buy out should Washington need to go that route.
For now, CapFriendly projects Washington with $15.65MM in cap space for 2024-25, assuming an Upper Limit of 2024-25. They’ll have eight roster spots to fill with that money, though, a tough ask. It’s a rather tough financial position for a team teetering on the edge of competitiveness in Ovechkin’s twilight years.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.