REPORT: Teammates compare Erik Karlsson to a hockey legend

REPORT: Teammates compare Erik Karlsson to a hockey legend

The Ottawa Senators, buoyed by the play of their captain and number one defenseman Erik Karlsson, have looked good in their opening round playoff series agains the Boston Bruins and, as a result, have a 3-1 lead heading back to Ottawa for game 5.

How important has Karlsson been to his team’s success? At this point we’ve all seen the circus pass that he made to Mike Hoffman for an incredible goal in game 3, but he’s done so much more than that in the Senators’ three wins. In four playoff games the 26 year-old Swede has 5 assists, just one behind league-leader Evgeni Malkin. He’s been so impressive this postseason that one of his teammates compared him to an all-time Sens great.

That’s right. He went there. Goaltender Craig Anderson, who himself is having a stellar postseason, compared his captain to Senators legend Daniel Alfredsson after Wednesday evening’s victory. It may be too early in Karlsson’s career to anoint him as Mr. Ottawa Senator at this point, but there’s no doubt that his career trajectory can take him into that rarified air. If Karlsson can bring a Stanley Cup to Ottawa, he’ll have fans in the nation’s capital saying, “Daniel who?”