Pierre LeBrun reveals why Erik Karlsson was not traded to the Edmonton Oilers

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Austin Sabourin
March 13, 2023 (5:22)

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The weeks leading up to the trade deadline was packed with a lot of speculation and trades. A player who's name was being thrown around in trade rumours a lot was Eric Karlsson. He is having a great season and has put a 17 point gap in points by defenceman this year. Since the San Jose Sharks are still rebuilding it was believed that General Manager Mike Grier would try to move Karlsson and get some assets for him.

Karlsson claims that Grier never approached him with any potential trade options. But it was reported that the Edmonton Oilers had interest in acquiring the defenceman and were the front runners for him.

So why wasn't he traded?

According to TSN insider Pierre LeBrun, the two teams weren't able to make a deal happen because of financial reasons probably because the Oilers are already tight on cap, and the Sharks don't want to retain a huge part of Karlsson's cap over the next 4 years.

LeBrun went on to say:

"San Jose got calls from a couple of teams this season on Karlsson, one of them emerging publicly as Edmonton. The Oilers had more than a little interest, but it sounds like the Sharks' unwillingness to retain enough of Karlsson's remaining contract essentially stopped both teams from taking the conversations to the next level.

The rebuilding/re-tooling Sharks will listen again on Karlsson this offseason, no question about it. But again the biggest question will be: How much can the Sharks eat on those final four years to make a trade happen?"

Karlsson has been great this year there is no denying that, as he's already passed his career high in points and is on pace to become the first defenceman to hit 100 points since Brian Leetch did it back in 1991-92. But he isn't getting any younger and this might be a reason the Oilers are hesitant to give up a lot of assets or take on his massive contract. With this being said, if the Sharks want to hurry up with their rebuild they should be doing everything in their power to get a deal done involving Karlsson.