San Jose Sharks: Re-Evaluating the Situation With Erik Karlsson
So… yeah, I’ve been away from sports writing for the past while, but, despite that, the situation with the San Jose Sharks and defenseman Erik Karlsson has remained largely the same.
It goes without saying that Karlsson’s turbulent tenure with the Sharks and his continually questionable future with the team is something that has been discussed to no end (myself included, twice) but regardless, changes are ultimately coming in San Jose after a few things that occurred over the course of this off-season
The departure of long-time Captain and franchise defenseman Brent Burns to the Carolina Hurricanes in essentially a salary-dump move is something that was both needed and is significant for a San Jose team hemmed by a fresh GM in former Shark Mike Grier. While Grier has stated he isn’t committing to a full-on rebuild just yet, Burns’ departure does signify that change is coming, which ultimately includes Karlsson.
I found that Karlsson’s comments on the trade rumors surrounding him, and how he ultimately didn’t request one, is something that pertains to both Karlsson as a player, and the commitment the Sharks now have to him whether they want to or not. The Sharks’ downfall from perennial Conference Finals favorites to the Pacific Division basement is something most couldn’t have seen coming, especially after the immense promise and consistency the team had shown behind the likes of Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl.
After barely falling short of Stanley Cup Glory in 2015-16 to the eventual back-to-back champ Pittsburgh Penguins, GM Doug Wilson and crew settled on a win-now motif to continue building upon what looked promising future.
Along with acquiring two-way winger and former fourth overall pick Evander Kane from an at the time fledgling Buffalo Sabres organization, Karlsson was seen as the pièce de resistance for what was supposed to be a future defined by continuing regular season and playoff success. Welp, flash forward to the present day, and not only has that not been the case, but the idea of that once-success is also so long gone it seems as though it was never even there in the first place.
Karlsson’s background as a top-flight NHL defenseman needs no introduction. The former Ottawa Senators first-rounder was at one point, in my opinion, the best defenseman in the NHL on paper by a considerable margin, posting numbers not seen since the days of Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Leetch in the mid-90s to early 2000s.
Playing alongside a fast, young, and talented Senators core comprised of Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman, and Craig Anderson among others, Karlsson recorded six seasons of 60+ points in his nine seasons in Ottawa, culminating in a magical run to the Conference Finals in 2016-17 that saw the Sens fall a goal shy of the Stanley Cup Final.
As the Sens core eventually crumbled, however, with the team looking towards the future, now possessing one of the brightest and most promising rosters in the NHL, Stone, Hoffman, supposed franchise savior Matt Duchene and eventually Karlsson, found their way out, mostly through blockbuster trades both good and bad.
Acquiring Duchene cost the Sens 2019 fourth overall pick Bowen Byram (who admittedly has been underused if barely used at all by Colorado), and Stone netted Ottawa little but defenseman Erik Brannstrom who despite immense potential and promise seems destined for a third-pairing role.
Similarly, the trade rumors around Karlsson swirled and swirled for months until the Swedish native eventually found his way to California, in a deal that well, just… wow this trade has not aged well for the Sharks, but we’ll get back to that.
Going into the 2018-19 season expectations were high for Karlsson on a team admittedly more suited to his playing style, while Ottawa’s return of prospects and picks at the time was seen as just that, prospects, and picks.
A pending UFA at season’s end, Karlsson struggled at times in his first season in San Jose but ultimately put up a respectable 45 points in 53 games, along with returning to parts of his old self in the playoffs, recording 16 points in 19 games as the Sharks fell to St. Louis in six in the Conference Finals.
Then, everything else happened, which brings us to the present day, and the impending 2022-23 season. In that year’s off-season, Karlsson inked one of the largest contracts in NHL history at eight years, $92 million with an $11.5 million AAV and a full NTC, with Wilson essentially placing his hopes on Karlsson as the franchise’s future, and well, yeah, Doug Wilson is no longer the GM of the Sharks so I think we can surmise how that went. To say Karlsson has struggled since 2018-19 would be an understatement so large it wouldn’t even fit in the Sharks’ entire arena, and it’s something I’ve, as stated, discussed at length in the past. Ultimately, torn tendons in his left foot suffered while with the Senators in 2017-18 robbed Karlsson of one of the defining aspects of his game. His speed has led to a trickle-down effect that ultimately took the entire Sharks organization down with it.
Remember what I said about those picks and prospects Ottawa got? Well, one such pick (Tim Stutzle) and one such prospect (Josh Norris) have emerged as some of the brightest young players in the NHL and the core of the Senators franchise, leaving a once-unassuming and ultimately underwhelming trade by Ottawa into one San Jose has definitively and quite pathetically lost.
After that Conference Finals run in 2018-19, San Jose hasn’t sniffed the playoffs since, much like Karlsson has been a far cry from the highs he once reached in Ottawa. At $11.5 million a year, Karlsson is the third highest paid player in the NHL, yet, in his last 102 games split over the past two seasons, he has posted just 18 goals and 57 points, not even close to his career high of 78 in 81 games over the entire 2011-12 season.
That once-mammoth contract seen as deserving for a potential franchise savior is now, in my mind, one of, if not the worst contract in the NHL, lacking much in the way of upside besides false promises and an apparent belief from Karlsson that this is just the role he’s settled into now, commenting on whether or not coach David Quinn (who helped Rangers defenseman Adam Fox win the Norris in 2021-22) would have an impact on him with
“No, not really. Maybe if I was a younger player, it may be a little bit different. I’ve played for a lot of different coaches. I kind of am who I am at this point.” Quote via TSN
The Future
Now, I don’t know about you, but if that’s the words I’m hearing from the third-highest paid player in the league, I’m worried, and that’s the main thing about Karlsson we should all be having now. Worry. To quote myself from my second article on the Karlsson situation, in a line that still applies today, “Erik Karlsson’s contract isn’t just buyout-proof, it isn’t just trade-proof, and it isn’t just waivers-proof, it’s the complete CLR Calcium Lime and Rust Remover that every homeowner needs and no NHL team wants.”
After a dreadful and ultimately baffling 2020-21 season that saw Karlsson post just 22 points in 52 games, a better 2021-22 campaign leads to one of the biggest question marks in the NHL and an even bigger one for a Sharks team stuck between a rebuild and a “re-tool”. While it seems as though his once-dominant self is a long-gone thing of the past, it remains to be seen whether Erik Karlsson can even come close to sniffing, the players the Sharks had originally, envisioned him to be.