Last season, the San Jose Sharks traded with the Ottawa Senators for star defenseman Erik Karlsson, hoping to solidify the team for a deep Stanley Cup run from this playoff season and for future hopes.
And now it is reported that Karlsson will be staying for a while in the Bay Area.
The Sharks have re-signed Karlsson to an eight-year, $88 million deal, worth up to $11 million per year. Reports were confirmed by The Sports Network’s (TSN) Bob McKenzie and Pierre LeBrun.
It is expected to be the biggest contract resigning in team history.
Further to @TSNBobMcKenzie's report on Erik Karlsson, I'm told the deal is indeed done: 8 years max deal, north of $11 million per season… the Sharks with a huge move in keeping the superstar D from hitting the market.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 17, 2019
In his first regular season in San Jose last year, Karlsson scored 45 points (three goals and 42 assists) in the 53 games played. However, he missed a few games due to a groin injury.
He also contributed 16 points (two goals and 14 assists) in this year’s playoffs.
The 29-year-old’s contract is similar to rival Los Angeles Kings’ defenseman Drew Doughty’s contract when he signed the same exact deal in the 2018 offseason.
https://twitter.com/friedgehnic/status/1140622734952665088?s=21
With Karlsson’s recent re-signing, the Sharks now have three defensemen (Karlsson, Brent Burns, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic) locked into multi-year contracts for the next six seasons.
However, it leaves over only $13 million for San Jose to re-sign other players to contracts as well.
This Karlsson signing, if confirmed, leaves the Sharks with about $13.3M in cap space to re-sign:
— The Hockey Jerk™ 🇺🇦 (@hockey_jerk) June 17, 2019
Meier
Labanc
Gambrell
Ryan
Heed
Nyquist
Donskoi
Thornton
Pavelski
As a result of the re-signing, the Sharks will send their 2021 second-round draft pick to the Senators as part of the trade terms.