Looks like Erik Karlsson is staying in Ottawa with the Ottawa Senators. At least for now. His contract is not up until next year, so we may go through all of this stress again then.
I must admit I have mixed emotions about the possibility of trading him. On one hand, I realize the financial shenanigans (reasons) may make sense to the bottom line of the Senators’ budget. On the other hand, however, why would you get rid of a franchise player, arguably the best defenseman ever, in hopes of acquiring another good defensive player with a few bonus players thrown in?
Many teams (apparently) lined up to make their offers of what (who) they thought Erik Karlsson is worth to them, but (again apparently) none of them were willing to add as many bonuses we thought he is worth.
It is true that this season has not been Karlsson’s best (by far) This can be explained and even expected by the fact that he was not able to attend full summer training with the team due to his foot/ankle injury. It probably did not help that he played on the injured foot during last year’s playoffs where the Senators were as close as an overtime loss in game seven to making the Stanley Cup finals. I’m sure the Pittsburgh Penguins led by Sidney Crosby were sweating big time (extremely worried) that game.
The Senators are not expected to make the playoffs this season. So hopefully Erik Karlsson can recuperate (heal) properly and be back to his former glory next season. I for one am glad to see him stick around. His skill level is awesome to watch on the ice and he is a charismatic leader on and off the ice within our community.
He is a great defenseman. I believe he wasn’t traded because my New York Rangers had a cheaper option that they successfully traded Ryan McDonaugh.
I think he may want to get away from Melynk. Isn’t that what Alfredsson did?