Rumor: Erik Karlsson Mega Thread II - All rumors/speculation/proposals go here

[Saekk]

Overpay? lol. Gardiner is brutal. The Sens have an emerging "better Gardiner" and his name is Thomas Chabot. Carrick is a nice player and a 1st from Toronto is probably 25th or later.

Foote, Cirelli, Raddysh, 1st blows that offer out of the water. In 3 years, when Ottawa is getting a lot better, Foote is going to be 3x the player Jake "I'm an absolute nightmare in my own zone" Gardiner is.

Whoosh.

 

[God King Fudge]

God please just trade him somewhere so we can stop debating hypotheticals for another week

 

[Kranix]

As soon as this fizzles, everyone can repeat the cycle of bickering over state taxes.

 

[Cynick]

Bennett+Brodie+1st 2019 for Karlsson unsigned

There was a rumour at some point that all Canadian teams were on EK's no trade list.

 

[LordZapp]

There was a rumour at some point that all Canadian teams were on EK's no trade list.

That would be a wise choice. But Bennett? Lol

 

[Qward]

Trying to respond to another user who said Foote as a starting piece was a pipe dream well if that’s a pipe dream then folks wanting Foote Sergy and point are probably crack pipe dreams

We are talking about Erik Freaking Karlsson.
28 year old 2 time Norris winner Erik Karlsson.
Highest scoring D-man since 2011, by over 100 pts Erik Karlsson.

Its a pipe dream to hope that Foote or Sergachev turn into a Erik Karlsson.

If I was Dorion I would ship him to Vegas and give Yzerman the finger while saying "Have fun with Toronto for the next 5 years."

 

[Ugene Magic]

JR has worked his Ninja magic probably.
They just confused Tampa connection with JR being at the beach and they heard Sea Gulls in the background noise.. Everyone stalled and he swooped in...

He said he had plans for a big trade.

 

[Master P]

We are talking about Erik Freaking Karlsson.
28 year old 2 time Norris winner Erik Karlsson.
Highest scoring D-man since 2011, by over 100 pts Erik Karlsson.

Its a pipe dream to hope that Foote or Sergachev turn into a Erik Karlsson.

If I was Dorion I would ship him to Vegas and give Yzerman the finger while saying "Have fun with Toronto for the next 5 years."

tell us how you really feel

 

[LordZapp]

JR has worked his Ninja magic probably.
They just confused Tampa connection with JR being at the beach and they heard Sea Gulls in the background noise.. Everyone stalled and he swooped in...

He said he had plans for a big trade.

Poor blue guy, got squished like a grape.

 

[God King Fudge]

We are talking about Erik Freaking Karlsson.
28 year old 2 time Norris winner Erik Karlsson.
Highest scoring D-man since 2011, by over 100 pts Erik Karlsson.

Its a pipe dream to hope that Foote or Sergachev turn into a Erik Karlsson.

If I was Dorion I would ship him to Vegas and give Yzerman the finger while saying "Have fun with Toronto for the next 5 years."

Tampa Bay is a contender with or without Erik Karlsson. So. Ok?

"I'm big mad Tampa won't gut themselves for my player, so I hope we take less of a return anyway and send him to another team because that's how fragile I am"

 

[LordZapp]

We are talking about Erik Freaking Karlsson.
28 year old 2 time Norris winner Erik Karlsson.
Highest scoring D-man since 2011, by over 100 pts Erik Karlsson.

Its a pipe dream to hope that Foote or Sergachev turn into a Erik Karlsson.

If I was Dorion I would ship him to Vegas and give Yzerman the finger while saying "Have fun with Toronto for the next 5 years."

I wonder what you will say when Erik freaking Karlsson gets traded for much less than you expected.

 

[Rschmitz]

2 minutes after Cairns tweets about Karlsson he tweeted about Tampa Bay Rays rumors. I'm skeptical.

 

[Rschmitz]

We are talking about Erik Freaking Karlsson.
28 year old 2 time Norris winner Erik Karlsson.
Highest scoring D-man since 2011, by over 100 pts Erik Karlsson.

Its a pipe dream to hope that Foote or Sergachev turn into a Erik Karlsson.

If I was Dorion I would ship him to Vegas and give Yzerman the finger while saying "Have fun with Toronto for the next 5 years."

 

[Kranix]

Social media experts at mikecairns station instructed him weigh in on Karlsson.

 

[TeslaCoilFan]

Is Cairns not a Lightning guy then? Honestly, I just assumed he was a beat writer for you guys.

Nope. Our main beat writers/insiders are as follows...

Freelancers who probably have the best sources/rep of any of our guys/gals
Eric Erlendsson - former TBL beat reporter with Tampa Tribune since the early days. His paper got bought out by Tampa Bay Times and a year or so later after that acquisition he was let go. Runs his own "Insider" subscription website with some decent access/depth stories. Still has some close contacts within the organization and is one of the more reliable guys.

Joe Smith - used to be Tampa Bay Times TBL beat reporter until he left to join the Atlantic subscription sports news service. Still has good relationship with TBL organization. Doesn't usually post speculations without it being clear that it's his guess/opinion.

Tampa Bay News Media - not very trusted because they let go of their best, most knowledgeable guys (see above).
Martin Fennelly - Tampa Bay Times sport columnist
Tom Jones - Tampa Bay Times sports columnist
and a bunch of misc. Tampa Bay Times sports writers that probably have some limited access as most media do for interviews after games/practices.

TBL Reporters/Employees - only going to spout the party/TBL line
Bryan Burns - TBL beat writer
Caley Chelios - TBL hockey reporter

If I see stuff from EE or Joe, I usually consider it pretty solid. The rest? Eh.

My fellow Lightning fans, feel free to add in more/correct the above.

 

[VictorLustig]

Hearing rumblings that he may or may not get traded soon. Stay tuned.

 

[More 2004]

Nope. Our main beat writers/insiders are as follows...

Freelancers who probably have the best sources/rep of any of our guys/gals
Eric Erlendsson - former TBL beat reporter with Tampa Tribune since the early days. His paper got bought out by Tampa Bay Times and a year or so later after that acquisition he was let go. Runs his own "Insider" subscription website with some decent access/depth stories. Still has some close contacts within the organization and is one of the more reliable guys.

Joe Smith - use to be Tampa Bay Times TBL beat reporter until he left to join the Atlantic subscription sports news service. Still has good relationship with TBL organization. Doesn't usually post speculations without it being clear that it's his guess/opinion.

Tampa Bay News Media - not very trusted because they let go of their best, most knowledgeable guys (see above).
Martin Fennelly - Tampa Bay Times sport columnist
Tom Jones - Tampa Bay Times sports columnist
and a bunch of misc. Tampa Bay Times sports writers that probably have some limited access as most media do for interviews after games/practices.

TBL Reporters/Employees - only going to spout the party/TBL line
Bryan Burns - TBL beat writer
Caley Chelios - TBL hockey reporter

If I see stuff from EE or Joe, I usually consider it pretty solid. The rest? Eh.

My fellow Lightning fans, feel free to add in more/correct the above.

Not too far off but the only guy I fully trust is EE. Guy is the best we have.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

I want to get off Mr. Melnyk's Wild Ride.

 

[LordZapp]

C'mon this needs to happen already!!

 

[Todd1a]

Is Cairns not a Lightning guy then? Honestly, I just assumed he was a beat writer for you guys.

Works for bay news 9 local Tampa news

 

[Kranix]

The rumblings mikecairns heard was Kathryn Tappen's tweet.

 

[Todd1a]

I’ve heard karlsson may be traded today or between now and the trade deadline!

 

[TeslaCoilFan]

Works for bay news 9 local Tampa news

Ahh, I don't tend to watch local news so I wouldn't recognize the name.

I heard rumblings too, but then I ate a sandwich and they went away.

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Ahh, I don't tend to watch local news so I wouldn't recognize the name.

I heard rumblings too, but then I ate a sandwich and they went away.

Strange, conflicting reports. I heard rumblings after I ate a sandwich.

 

[AndreRoy]

Getting back to some of the discussion in the previous thread, I don’t think people fully appreciate just how tight to the cap the Lightning are going to be even without adding Karlsson. Let’s fast forward a couple years to the 2020-21 season as that will be the second of two years in which we will be extending (with either a bridge or a longterm deal) our core - if we can make the cap work that season then there’s at least a decent chance that the seasons before and after it can be worked out as well.

Currently we have under contract for that season the following players:

Forwards
Stamkos $8.5M (NMC)
Palat $5.3M (full NTC)
Miller $5.25M (8-team no trade list)
Johnson $5M (full NTC)
Killorn $4.45M (16-team trade list)

Total: 5 forwards at $28.5

Defensemen
Hedman $7.88M (NMC)
McDonagh $6.75M (full NTC)

Total: 2 defensemen at $14.63M

Goaltenders
None signed

Overall total: 7 players at $43.13M

Of those seven players one (Miller) is easily tradeable; another (Killorn) has a full NTC up to that point and depending on how he’s playing by then may not be easy to move. McDonagh’s full NTC doesn’t kick in until next season so he could theoretically be moved now, and the rest can’t be moved at all unless they agree to waive.

Now let’s start adding contracts for our unsigned players. I’m not going to try to nail down exactly how much each player will make - merely provide a reasonable ballpark estimate. Let’s start with the core players who are coming off bridge deals and will be receiving their longterm contracts:

Kucherov $10M
Vasilevskiy $7M

Now for the core players coming off their ELCs. It’d be nice to have the option of locking them in with longterm deals but it doesn’t look like that will be possible unless one or more players agree to waive their NTCs. So for the moment let’s say the following:

Point: $5M x 3 years bridge
Sergachev $5M x 3 years bridge

Point would get his new deal right when Palat’s contract comes off the books and Serg would get his a year later when Killorn’s deal expires.

So now that we’ve got our entire core extended at least through the 2021-22 season, let’s see what we’re looking at:

Estimated total with entire core extended: 11 players at $70.13M (7 forwards, 3 defensemen, 1 goalie)

I could go into detail on the rest of the projected lineup, but to keep from getting too deep into the weeds let’s just say for the moment that we run a 22-man roster and that all of the remaining roster spots are manned by players making an average of $1M. That still puts us at over $81M with half of our lineup filled with rookies and plugs. Gourde and Cirelli are both gone, and any young players who perform well enough on their ELCs to earn more than negligible increases on their next deal are traded. Of course the cap will be more than $81M at that point and Miller can be easily traded so we’ll have a bit more breathing room to avoid becoming the Tampa Bay (Cap) Crunch, but I think it’s obvious that adding Karlsson’s contract into the mix while subtracting our best young, cheap talent is not practical.