At some point, SJ will need to reshuffle, or retool on the fly, but I don't think this team gives up on Karlsson just after 1 season without a fight for a new deal. PS, the new deal cannot be signed before this season's trade deadline if they want to extend him for 8 years.

Rumor has it that Karlsson is seeking closer to McDavid money, Pretty sure he's looking at more then $11 million per.

And that would make the situation even worse for SJ. With the few players they already have under contract for next season, signing EK to a contract that large would leave them with even less money to fill their roster with.



I'm sure they would love to re-sign him, but I don't think they can keep him around without dumping a few of the contracts they already have in place next year.

As a Sens Fan, I want him to resign for the extra picks!

But I can't see him doing that.. Especially with the aging D-core and their all in mentality (which is good short term, but will be a problem in 3-4 years)!

I think he's happy to be their this season because the San Jose have legitimate shot at the cup... but moves on at the end of the season!

SJ is definitely going all in this year. Next year, though, I don't see any way they can afford him unless they either live with having no depth, or move some of the few players they already have under contract in order to clear cap space. Either way their depth will suffer.

He will not sign in SJ, their window is going to shut very soon with their aging Vets and lack of depth. He will go to FA and get 7 years at McDavid money with an up and coming team that has the space.

The fact that Doug Wilson was able to swap Mike Hoffman nearly instantly after acquiring for more of a return then he gave up originally acquiring him tells me that SJ has a devious GM capable of making pretty much anything work. I'm not a Sharks fan, but I find it hard to believe they will be letting Karlsson go without a fight. That may mean moving pieces, but I think this competitive team will stay competitive regardless of any extension given to Karlsson.

He would certainly have to get very creative and make a few sacrifices, but the problem that will still be there is lack of depth. They are going to have a lot of roster spots to fill next year.

As a Sharks fan, this is a serious concern of mine. If Jumbo doesn't resign, that leaves 5m for the Sharks to possible give Karlsson 4.5m of to get him to 11m. I heard part of the OTT contract they offered he didn't like was not enough signing bonus compensation. The Sharks owner is loaded, but I'm not sure how he feels about signing bonuses.

There is still the concern of signing Pavelski, Meier, Labanc, and others.

The reality is, DW often gets players on fairly good deals, but he has a lot of money locked up right now and less flexibility. However, if the cap increases to say 82m and we offload Dillon and/or Braun I think we could potentially be okay.

Offloading Dillon and/or Braun may still not allow enough space to fill all of the slots and maintain depth.