Two more contenders jump into Erik Karlsson sweepstakes

Erik Karlsson may be getting used to the trade chatter, however, fans might be losing count of how many contenders are seriously looking into the possibility of acquiring his services ahead of the trade deadline.

So far, the San Jose Sharks star defenseman has been linked to his former team, the Ottawa Senators, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Edmonton Oilers, even the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Calgary Flames.

We get why! Karlsson has garnered a lot of interest in trade chatter since he leads all NHL defensemen in goals (11) and points (32), and is tied for sixth among NHL skaters in points with Florida Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk, Boston Bruins’ David Pastrnak, Buffalo Sabres’ Tage Thompson and Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby.

And that’s probably why two new contenders are looking into acquiring him. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Panthers have interest in Karlsson, but they face an uphill battle.

“It is an extremely difficult puzzle to piece together, but I do think Florida would have interest in Erik Karlsson. Not sure how it could happen, though,” the insider wrote in his latest 32 Thoughts column.

On top of that, the Panthers will face competition for the star blue liner as one more interested club was added by host Tony Marinaro, who believes the Montreal Canadiens will too be in the mix.

He believes Karlsson would love to return to Canada and that the veteran defenseman would be incredible to watch as a leader to Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. He even suggests sending Brendan Gallagher to San Jose in return and have Karlsson has a fast-forward building block to bring Montreal in contention.

The truth here, above all rumours, is that Karlsson remains in control with a no-movement clause in his contract, four more years after this season with an $11.5 million dollar AAV.

Karlsson will be the most coveted trade bait, but a decision from the defenseman on testing the market or not will probably come closer to the deadline in March.

Let’s see which contender leads the way closer to the deadline.