The wait is finally over, and the San Jose Sharks have found a way to acquire Erik Karlsson from the Ottawa Senators per Pierre LeBrun (TSN).
San Jose will reportedly send the Ottawa Senators Chris Tierney, Dylan DeMelo, Josh Norris, Rudolfs Balcers, 2020 first-round pick, 2019 second-round pick, and two conditional picks as well per Bruce Garrioch (TSN). Also an interesting clause in the deal is if he appears on the reserve list of any Eastern Conference team this season, San Jose must then send Ottawa another first-round pick by 2022 per Chris Johnston (Sportsnet). Another condition to the trade is that if Karlsson signs a contract extension with the Sharks, the Senators would then receive San Jose’s second-round pick in 2021. That second-round pick could potentially become an unprotected first-round pick if the Sharks make it to the Stanley Cup final in 2019.
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Since entering the league in 2009, Erik Karlsson is first among defensemen with 592 points and also is first in assists with 392. Karlsson’s 126 goals in that time has him fourth in that time frame among D-men with his new teammate Brent Burns being first in that time with 147.
Karlsson joins a defense that features Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Joakim Ryan, Brendan Dillon, and Justin Braun. San Jose’s defense will now be arguably the best in the entire NHL.
The next step for San Jose will be resigning the two-time Norris winning champion to a long-term deal in San Jose. Early in the offseason, there were reports that Karlsson would only sign an extension with a team based in the United States. Expect an extension to come very soon for Karlsson and San Jose.
Perron is a former seventh round pick to the Ottawa Senators and is a long shot prospect to make the NHL. Last season in Belleville, Perron managed 15 points in 44 games. At 22 years of age Perron will be hoping to find new life with San Jose’s AHL affiliate this upcoming season.
Tierney has 104 career points for the San Jose Sharks. At 24 years of age he has a lot of time to left to grow and become a very productive player for the Ottawa Senators. Last season Tierney recorded 40 points on 17 goals and 23 assists.
DeMelo has played three seasons on a San Jose defense that has been considered one of the best in the entire NHL. Just like Tierney, DeMelo is young and has shown that he is still growing as a NHL player. Last season he played a career-high 63-games and spent 844.5 minutes on the ice. In that time he had 20 assists and a plus/minus rating of minus one.
Norris will spend this season playing at the University of Michigan, but he has shown that he could potentially be a solid forward in the NHL. Last season for the Wolverines, Norris scored 23 points in 37 games. Norris is 6-1 185 lbs, but at 19-years of age he has a lot of time to develop into an NHL talent for the Ottawa Senators.
Balcers played last season in the AHL for the San Jose Barracuda and he showed that he has the ability to score the puck. Balcers finished the season with 48 points in 67 games and will be looking to do more of the same for Belleville Senators in 2018-19. At 21-years old Balcers is nearing the NHL, depending on how Ottawa plays this season he could see some minutes at some point this season.
