Erik Karlsson Could Be A Pittsburgh Penguin By Sunday?
For months and even weeks now we have seen the Pittsburgh Penguins being linked to San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson.
NHL Rumors: Erik Karlsson, Edmonton Oilers, and the Los Angeles Kings
Now that Kyle Dubas has taken the interim tag off and is the President of Hockey Operations and general manager, he has made it his main focus to trade for Karlsson.
And discussions between the Penguins and Sharks are only heating up. There is a chance that Karlsson could be a member of the Penguins organization by the end of the weekend.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on NHL Network discussing the front office moves made by the Penguins as well as what it could mean for the team moving including the potential acquisition of Karlsson.
***NHLRumors.com Transcription
Friedman: “It means Kyle Dubas is very much in charge. I don’t think this will come as a huge surprise to a lot of people that he officially dropped the interim title and kept the job.
Now the bigger story might be this weekend. And the Penguins settled with Drew O’Connor and that means this weekend they have a 48-hour buyout window and some potential roster flexibility. Now Dubas has said he does not like using buyouts, he prefers not to do it.
We’ll see, but I’m very curious to see by the time that buyout window closes and it closes on Sunday, we have some clarity on Erik Karlsson. I have a couple of people just say keep an eye this weekend, there is going to be an attempt to see if this can get closed.
Now we have been here before. I don’t want to be the bringer of false alarms and false panic, but there is a little bit of let’s just say noise on the radar or sonar whichever you prefer to keep an eye out this weekend.”
NHL Rumors: Penguins Front Runner to Land Erik Karlsson
As Friedman notes Drew O’Connor got a new deal, but after the news of Friday with Jake Guentzel having ankle surgery and will be reevaluated after 12 weeks, this gives Dubas and the Penguins another option.
Guentzel’s $6 million will go on LTIR to start the season, but the question is do the Penguins buyout Mikael Granlund or make him a part of the trade going back to San Jose?
Those are options the Penguins have to look at because there are not many other options to make this work especially if Guentzel is ready to go in 12 weeks. If he is not then that is a different story.
But the Erik Karlsson saga could be coming to an end by this weekend.
