At least one other team could be involved in the Erik Karlsson trade to Pittsburgh

The National Hockey League’s off-season is aptly named at the moment.

It’s a very dead off-season, let’s say.

Trades are few and far between, and there are fewer and fewer rumours.

Nevertheless, one file persists day after day, and it seems to be getting closer and closer to completion.

I’m talking, of course, about Erik Karlsson.

The San Jose Sharks defenseman has been at the center of trade rumors for several weeks, if not months now.

The 33-year-old veteran wants to leave San Jose for a competitive team, starting this summer, as he announced earlier this year.

Even though Karlsson has just won the Norris Trophy, awarded to the season’s best defenseman, by registering over 100 points (25-76-101 in 82 games), a first for a defenseman since Brian Leetch in 1991-1992, a transaction involving him is really not straightforward.

Why not?

Because of his four-season contract with an annual value of $11.5 million.

Very few, if any, competitive teams can afford such a salary.

That’s why a deal is so complicated, even if the Pittsburgh Penguins have been on their own for some time now.

The Hurricanes no longer seem to be on the case.

In short, a Karlsson deal will be complicated and have many technicalities.

Well, according to Elliotte Friedman, one of those technicalities would be the presence of at least one other team in the transaction between the Sharks and the Penguins, which could take place as early as today.

A third team in this transaction would normally help the Penguins withhold Karlsson’s salary, so that he would have less impact on Pittsburgh’s payroll.

This team would receive some compensation, such as a draft pick or prospect.

The Montreal Canadiens would clearly be interested in participating in this transaction.

Kent Hughes has been involved in this type of transaction before (Nick Bonino), and he’s always open to receiving draft picks or prospects for a small fee, especially considering that he’ll have around $6 million available under the salary cap for next season.

It should also be noted that Friedman states that AT LEAST ONE other team would be involved in the transaction.

This means that the Penguins could also use another team to free up salary, like Jeff Petry.

As far as we know, Jeff Petry doesn’t want anything to do with playing in San Jose, which hurts the Karlsson deal for the Penguins.

Given that the Penguins can’t directly send salary back to the Sharks, they’ll probably be forced to send that salary (surely Petry’s) elsewhere, if he decides not to buy him out.

In short, several teams could be involved in this big transaction, and we can’t wait to see the official details.

We’ll be keeping a very close eye on it, as this trade involving the Sharks, the Penguins and potentially one or more other teams could take place today.

In a gust

– Read more.

– To watch this week.

– I’d say no.

ROMELL QUIOTO🚨 POLL

If CF Montreal receives a transfer offer this season for Romell Quioto, should we accept it?#CFMTL

– Nilton Jorge (@NiltonJorge) August 6, 2023

– A fight breaks out last night at a baseball game!

FIGHT BREAKS OUT IN CLEVELAND 😳

(via @NBCSWhiteSox)pic.twitter.com/rb8aPbBtZo

– Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 6, 2023

– Too bad for him.