OFFERS FOR KARLSSON FALL SHORT
Dorion notes club is prepared to make star long-term contract offer this summer
Take a deep breath, Ottawa.
Erik Karlsson will be a stay-athome defenceman — for now.
Before the NHL trade deadline passed at 3 p.m. on Monday, the Ottawa Senators didn’t get any offers that were good enough and decided to keep their captain.
While Karlsson’s future is still clouded and he didn’t address the media following a 50-minute skate at the Bell Sensplex, he’ll be in the lineup Tuesday night against the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center because no team went to the table with a big enough return to facilitate a blockbuster trade.
With the club sitting 29th overall, general manager Pierre Dorion noted he took calls on “every player” on the club’s roster, but wasn’t going to deal a “generational player” like Karlsson unless the Senators got “many pieces” in a trade.
“This year we thought we’d be a playoff team, we thought we’d be a team that made noise in the playoffs, and now we’re in 29th place,” Dorion told a news conference at the Canadian Tire Centre before the club’s flight to Washington. “When that happens there are tough decisions that have to be made and everything has to be reviewed.
“I fielded calls on every single player on our roster and I think we have to do it as an organization to listen to every offer on every player.”
Karlsson’s name becoming public made him the focus of this deadline. The Senators can still trade him before the NHL draft in June but Dorion noted the club is prepared to make Karlsson a long-term contract offer this summer to keep him from going to unrestricted free agency on July 1, 2019.
Though the Senators received interest from several teams — including the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators — nobody was willing to step up to the plate to acquire the 27-year-old Karlsson.
“We’re not going to hide the fact Erik Karlsson is a special player and he’s our franchise player,” Dorion said. “When I made it clear earlier in the year we weren’t very happy, multiple teams phoned about Erik and if a player of Erik Karlsson’s calibre was on the market, I’d be phoning and I’d probably be phoning every day.
“Erik is a franchise player and we felt there was no franchise deal out there that could satisfy us to make the best hockey deal.”
The Senators weren’t going to give Karlsson away and the indications are they wanted a package in return which may have included five to six elements (first-round draft picks, legitimate NHL players and highend prospects). That’s a difficult move for any contender to make.
Of course, dealing with ongoing trade speculation will not be easy for Karlsson, but Dorion sat down with him Monday morning before the deadline to explain the situation. Owner Eugene Melnyk and Dorion have been taking plenty of hits publicly since word leaked out the club was listening to offers.
“Erik and I have a great relationship,” Dorion said. “I’ve known Erik since he was 159 pounds when we drafted him. Erik and I had a good meeting this morning in my office. We talk a lot, he’s the captain, he loves being in Ottawa and I think Erik wants to be a Senator for life.
“I don’t want to speak for him, we’ll let him speak for himself, but we’ll see what the next few months bring but if Erik Karlsson is here on July 1st we’ll be making him a contract offer.”
Dorion said the club didn’t put Karlsson on the market.
“We didn’t actively shop Erik Karlsson ... We did not,” he said. “But when a player of his calibre is rumoured to be on the market or when a team is struggling like ourselves, teams are going to inquire about him. We have to listen. We have to do what’s best for this organization in the short-, medium- and long-term.
“I don’t think we would be doing our job if we didn’t at least listen on offers.”
The Senators weren’t in any rush to make a deal involving Karlsson. The plan has been to sit down with him in the summer and see if the two sides could find common ground on a long-term contract. The belief is he’ll seek an eight-year deal in the US$10 million to US$12.5 million range per season, but the Senators want to have that discussion.
Still, other teams are going to want to talk in June and you’d have to think Dorion will be listening because Karlsson can bring a huge package in return.
“It would take a special hockey deal to move Erik Karlsson and today we didn’t feel that was something that was on the table,” Dorion said. “I always listen. I had offers on Erik Karlsson no one knew about over the course of the summer.
“The fact is there were more teams that phoned me but teams phone on players all the time. To me, it wasn’t about the market getting more excited in the past week, it’s about teams having two playoff runs with him and it made it more appealing.”
The Senators did not trade their captain and, for the time being, the city can breathe a sigh of relief.
Erik is a franchise player and we felt there was no franchise deal out there that could satisfy us to make the best hockey deal.