Breaking: Major development in Karlsson trade discussions!

Awful news for Sens fans, HUGE news for everyone else!

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 6 years ago
Breaking: Major development in Karlsson trade discussions!
KeyStone Press

Things are going very badly for the Ottawa Senators this season - especially ever since they traded Kyle Turris away and acquired Matt Duchene. While there's belief that this swap has disrupted the team's chemistry, it's hard to believe that one deal like that could be responsible for a team losing 11 out of their last 12 games.

It appears that some massive changes are on the way for the Senators - and that starts with current captain and bonafide superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson.

Elliotte Friedman spoke on Hockey Night in Canada regarding a massive news story that has developed this week regarding Karlsson. Here's the full quote.

"Here is something in his contract that the Ottawa Senators can request his list of teams that he will not be traded to. There’s 10 of them. And there was a lot of rumblings this week that Ottawa did indeed do that. Now Pierre Dorion would not comment. The agent Don Meehan would not comment. And I was kind of stuck here and somebody called me to say look, he was concerned that they’re not going to trade him because they were angry.

"Whatever happened two weeks ago, I think everyone is trying to move past that. What I do think is happening is Ottawa is struggling, they’ve got 10 players with no-trade contracts. They’re getting all of them – the ones that had to be in earlier and the ones like Karlsson that they could ask for, and they’re going to figure out what they’re gonna do.

"In 2011 when they were 26th in the league, they asked for everybody’s no-trade clause, they traded Fisher, Kelly and Alex Kovalev. So, I think they’re going to ask for it, or they have asked for it, but I’ve been told that does not mean 100 percent that Erik Karlsson is going to be traded, it just opens the option. But I still don’t think it’s likely."

The simple fact that they asked for his no trade list is very telling - he is not untouchable, and is now officially considered trade bait. The price will be exorbitant, to be sure, which makes this deal very complex to make. This is one of the reason's Friedman doesn't believe a trade will materialize.

But let us consider this - the Senators are a budget team and will be hard-pressed to spend $12-13 million on one player - and that is what he will get. He spoke recently to the media, expressing much to the chagrin of team owner Eugene Melnyk that he will get paid what he deserves, and not take a hometown discount.

Several teams in the NHL will easily outbid Ottawa when the superstar becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2019. GM Pierre Dorion may be forced to act swiftly and trade him for a huge haul of assets before he loses him for nothing.

Source: Sportsnet