Elliotte Friedman opens door to Erik Karlsson’s return to Ottawa

I mentioned it in my most recent article, but the Penguins are aging and don’t have a great future.

It makes you wonder if guys like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson will be moving on. Probably not before March 8, but maybe this summer.

Elliotte Friedman has opened the door to Karlsson’s eventual return to Ottawa.

Friedman adds the second Karlsson was traded from the Sens people in Ottawa told him that this isn’t over and there will be a day when Karlsson returns, so that makes him think. Also adds that if PIT wants to get younger, moving EK back to Ottawa is one way to do it.

– NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) February 22, 2024

When the Swede was traded to the Sharks by the Sens, people in Ottawa told him it wasn’t necessarily over.

And with Daniel Alfredsson behind the bench, perhaps the defenseman would like to reunite with his former teammate. The two have a great relationship – I can attest to that, having served them on several occasions at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club, a private golf club, this summer.

Remember that 65 has a no-trade clause, which would complicate matters. His $11.5 million contract for three more seasons after this one is also a consideration for Ottawa.

We know that the team from the nation’s capital wants to win, but isn’t having the best of seasons. I wonder how much the acquisition of another offensive defenseman would solve the team’s problems…

A big March 8

Even though a few transactions have already taken place (Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm), we’re in for quite an eventful trade deadline. From a hockey fan’s perspective, at least that’s how it looks.

Because my colleague Maxime Truman is right: for a Habs fan, it’s not even worth being active on social media that day…

But in the NHL, several big names are likely to change address. Jacob Markstrom and Juuse Saros will be goalkeepers to watch, and already talented teams will want to improve their line-ups even further. These include the Golden Knights and the Lightning.

With injuries to Mark Stone ($9.5 million) and Mikhail Sergachev ($8.5 million), both teams will be able to use this credit to add players equal to or close to this amount. That’s what Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun told Insider Trading. Nikita Kucherov 2.0 for the playoffs. We know that the Tampa Bay defenseman will miss the rest of the regular season, and in Stone’s case, he’s being evaluated on a weekly basis, which isn’t a good sign.

History repeats itself for the captain…

But all this to say that Jake Guentzel is becoming a potential target for both teams. The Oilers remain in the mix, looking for a winger who can play with Leon Draisaitil.

And let’s not forget the New Jersey Devils, who have been very active in the Markstrom deal. And with Dougie Hamilton ($9M) on the LTIR, they could make a move.