Unexpected factor played a major role in Karlsson trade!

The San Jose Sharks made a huge splash a few weeks ago as they made a blockbuster trade for all-star defenseman Erik Karlsson. While the Sharks also got prospect Francis Perron, in return, the Senators receive forward Chris Tierney, defenseman  Dylan DeMelo, prospects Josh Norris and Rudolfs Balcers, a 2020 first-round pick, a 2019 second-round pick, and two conditional picks. 

Since the trade took place, many people wondered how Sharks general manager Doug Wilson managed to convince the Senators to pull the trigger. On Tuesday, in his latest 31 Thoughts column on Sportsnet, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed who got involved to make the blockbuster trade happen…

It appears that both teams owners push hard for the deal to take place. Here is how Friedman explains it: 

One interesting item about the Erik Karlsson deal: how involved the owners were. There was direct conversation between Ottawa’s Eugene Melnyk and San Jose’s Hasso Plattner. Prior to the trade, Plattner spoke to both Karlsson and wife Melinda twice each to answer any questions they had about the organization or the region.

“We are fortunate,” Sharks GM Doug Wilson said, “that we have an owner who considers it a priority to make himself available when we ask him.” (With more advance knowledge of the timing, Plattner attended the team’s post-draft John Tavares pitch in Los Angeles.)

In late July, during a calmer point in this process, Melnyk directly contacted Karlsson, asking for a face-to-face meeting to see where things stood. It never happened, as the two-time Norris winner indicated he wasn’t ready to decide his future and couldn’t guarantee when that would come. That was really the point of no return for the Senators.

Karlsson recently revealed that he hadn’t spoken to the Sens’ owner and GM since November. It seems that he had spoken to the Sharks’ owner and the puzzle was made with all of these pieces. 

“I haven’t spoken to any of them really since November of last year when they asked for my no-trade list,” Karlsson told Postmedia News in a one-on-one interview last Thursday. “That’s the way it is, I guess. That’s the only situation I know that’s been like this. It was what it was. I was there to play hockey and I did that to the best of my ability with what we had. That’s all that I worried about.

“Everything else around it is above my pay grade. That’s not my question to ask.”

The Sharks surely benefited from their owner’s input… We aren’t sure the Senators fan base will say the same about Melnyk getting involved in deals…