NHL Trade Rumors: Insider floats 'antsy' $92 million Penguins D-man's return to Senators

Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins traded for Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks in 2023 to add some offensive prowess to the blueline and add star power alongside Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. However, the Penguins are desperate to let go of the high-priced defenseman, having failed to reach the playoffs in the last two years.

Erik Karlsson has two years left on his eight-year $92 million deal he had signed with the Sharks after the 2018 season. When he was traded, the Sharks retained $1.5 million per year of his salary, leaving the Penguins $10 million in annual average value.

The huge monetary gamble hasn't produced results for either Karlsson or the Penguins. In Friday's episode of "The Chris Johnston Show," Johnston said that Karlsson is ready to be moved as he has gotten antsy over the lack of chances to win the Stanley Cup.

"I have to believe at this stage of his career—he was in San Jose when that team went from contender to not—he’s arrived in Pittsburgh as they’re heading in the wrong direction. I have to think he's going to get antsy at a certain point. As much as Pittsburgh’s been a great fit for his family and he likes living there, he’s only got so much time left on his clock in terms of trying to compete for a Stanley Cup," Johnston said. [30:00 onwards]

One of the contender teams that recently ended an eight-year drought and reached the playoffs was the Ottawa Senators, a club Karlsson is familiar with. He was picked in the 2008 NHL Draft by the Sens as the No. 15 pick and played his first nine seasons in the big leagues and won two Norris trophies.

"I would say it’d be a cool story because the Senators are on a great trajectory. If that could ever work, it would be a cool story—if he got back there at a time when they're on the way up again. If you look back at when they traded him and Mark Stone, that was signaling they were on the way down. Could he catch the speeding train on the way back up? It’d be interesting to see," Johnston said. [33:26 onwards]

Karlsson is projected to boost the Senators' five-on-five play, which averaged a low 2.13 goals per 60 minutes last season. They need a right-shot defenceman and need help in the play. The Senators have $4 million in cap space and have a core group that is getting older.

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Erik Karlsson linked to other Canadian clubs despite durability issues and defensive woes

The market is pretty hot for someone like Erik Karlsson, who is in his mid-30s. Apart from the Senators, TSN's Travis Yost linked at least two other Canadian teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers to the D-man.

The Leafs are looking to add enough firepower to overcome Mitch Marner's offensive production, while the Oilers need to polish their strengths. However, a trade for Karlsson will likely require the Oilers to convince Darnell Nurse to waive his no-movement clause.

Karlsson had some durability issues playing a maximum of 56 regular season games in his first four seasons in San Jose. But he has fixed that by playing all 82 games in the last three years and averaging 70 points.

However, his defensive woes remain a concern with him having a -3 rating, being outscored 260 to 263 when on the ice, during the same stretch. He remains a top offensive producer from the back, with a plus 10.2 rating.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash