Montreal Canadiens Should Target Erik Karlsson
The Montreal Canadiens had a lot of success at even strength this season. What cost them a playoff spot was their abysmal powerplay. Signing Erik Karlsson this summer would ensure that would not be a problem again.
The Montreal Canadiens missed the NHL Playoffs by the narrowest of margins. A 96 point season would normally be enough to qualify for the postseason. However, it was two points shy of cracking the top eight in the Eastern Conference.
The Habs can blame a putrid powerplay on their narrow miss. They were a great team at five on five, and were the only team with more goals for than goals against that did not make the playoffs. It was their 13.2 percent conversion rate with the man advantage which ranked 30th in the league that kept them from making the playoffs.
The Canadiens need to find some help for the powerplay next season. The best player that will be available this summer that can fix it is Erik Karlsson.
The Swedish defenceman is one of the best offensive defencemen in NHL history. He is often not far off a point per game pace, even when he is not playing at 100%. It was clear that the San Jose Sharks defender was struggling with his health in this postseason. Still, he ended up with 16 points in 19 games.
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Karlsson will be 29 next week so he may not break his career highs of 21 goals or 82 points, but there is no question he still has plenty of offence left in his game. He battled injuries and had moved to the west coast after playing his first nine seasons with the Ottawa Senators. Still, he put up 45 points in 53 games, a 70 point pace over a full season.
Karlsson will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. His 20 points with the man advantage put him in the top ten among blue liners, even though he missed 29 games throughout the season. He would certainly transform the special teams of the Canadiens quickly.
As a right-shooting defenceman, Karlsson wouldn’t perfectly fit a need for the Montreal Canadiens. However, when you have a chance to add one of the best players at his position in the world, you make it work.
Making it work in this situation would likely mean trading Jeff Petry. He played well for the Habs but could fetch a decent return with two years left on his contract at a $5.5 million cap hit. It wouldn’t fill a huge need, but it would result in an immense upgrade. Plus, Karlsson is two years younger than Petry.
Rumblings in the hockey world suggest Karlsson will test the free agent waters and is looking to move back east. His wife is from Ottawa, but with the way things ended with the Senators, there is no way Karlsson will be moving back to Ontario.
However, Montreal is a fantastic city that is close to Ottawa. The best part is, you don’t have to play for the Ottawa Senators when you are in Montreal. There are also rumours that Karlsson has his eyes on Tampa Bay, but their cap situation is already messy. Trying to fit Karlsson in would be nearly impossible. The Canadiens head into the summer with more than $13 million in cap space.
There aren’t many teams that can offer the Karlsson family the package of being close to home and also give them a top financial offer. Due to his injury history and the Canadiens cap situation, Karlsson won’t be getting an $11 million average annual value as Drew Doughty received.
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However, if the Canadiens were to step up with a six-year offer at $8.5 million per season, the Karlsson’s would have to think long and hard about moving back to Canada.