Breaking: Last minute update on Erik Karlsson before Game 5.

The San Jose Sharks have just provided a very important update.

As many of our readers will already know San Jose Sharks star defenseman Erik Karlsson was extremely limited in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final, appearing for just 10 minutes of ice time in spite of the fact that the game would eventually go to overtime. The fact that he was so limited once again pointed to the fact that Karlsson continues to be unable to remain healthy for any significant length of time, and points to the fact that he is clearly not 100% at this stage of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

As a result of the Game 4 situation there were a lot of question marks surrounding Karlsson heading into Game 5 of the series, mainly questions regarding whether or not he would be able to play at all this time around. Well we now have an answer and whether or not you like that answer will likely depend on just how limited you feel Karlsson has become throughout this series. 

Although San Jose Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer did hint at the fact that there would be line up changes made prior to game time, he also has informed reporters that Erik Karlsson will in fact be good to go in Game 5 today. Even though Karlsson will be good to go today you can bet that there will be a ton of eyeballs on both his play and how much ice time he gets today from all around the league.

Although Karlsson is currently competing for a Stanley Cup Championship he is also set to be a free agent this summer where he will earn the biggest contract of his NHL career this far. There are many who believe that his constant injury woes will cause a significant dip in either how much he receives per season or in the term of his new contract. A strong performance down the stretch could help erase many of those doubts, but on the other side of that coin his continued struggles could also add to them.