Has Karlsson played last home game for Ottawa?
The Senators are going to suffer in a number of ways without Erik Karlsson, an era many of us believe will have commenced by the next time they play at Canadian Tire Centre.
Minus the NHL’s best defenceman, they won’t immediately be as exciting or have nearly as much thrill potential. Karlsson is one of the few players in the league who can be worth the price of admission by himself.
He can draw you to the edge of your seat then pull you to your feet with one electrifying rush. He can make a pass or take a shot that gives you something to talk about on your long drive home from the rink.
He is fun and entertaining and, dammit, that will be very much missed on both the bitter cold and just really cold nights in Kanata.
At just 27 years old, Karlsson is also considered the most talented player in Senators history. Combined with his natural charm and charisma, he has legions upon legions of faithful fans. Many of them love him more than the team itself, or at least so it will seem by the angry protests and threats of “never buying another ticket” that accompany the mere talk he will get traded this summer — no matter what GM Pierre Dorion gets in return.
But to say that the on-ice product will suffer without Karlsson, however, is difficult to do after a season that’s been as bad as this one.
For the 30th-place Senators, there’s only one more rung to fall before hitting the basement floor.
It’s not the captain’s fault that this team has sunk to unimaginable lows, but he also hasn’t helped as much as he is expected to for a guy who will pull a $10-million to $12-million salary on his next contract.
For whatever reason, he hasn’t been the all-around player he was last season, when a case could have been made for him as the Hart Trophy winner and, not coincidentally, the Senators were one of the final four teams standing. His focus on defence is not anywhere as close to intense, which is partially reflective in a minus-27 rating heading into Monday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets. And he is the ice-time leader on a team that, heading into Monday, had surrendered 3.42 goals per game, second-most in the league.
Offensively, Karlsson is still a cut above the rest, but those skills are seemingly being wasted in Ottawa, where the team is the 25th-most-productive in the NHL, with a 2.67 goals-per-game average.
For that matter, it’s perplexing how the Senators’ power play is traditionally so poor with a guy who has all the qualities to be the best power-play quarterback in the league.
The last time the Senators had a Top 10 ranking with the man advantage was 2008-09 — the year before Karlsson arrived. Since he’s been in Ottawa, their power play has been 21st, 15th, 11th, 20th, 14th, 22nd, 26th, 23rd and, this season, 26th with one week to go.
Under new ownership, the Senators would probably ink Karlsson to a lavish new contract and build around him, intent and determined to get back to the conference finals and beyond as soon as possible.
We don’t know the plan under Eugene Melnyk, but after saying he would cut the payroll unless attendance picked up — and Ottawa most recently listed 24th in that category on figures compiled by ESPN.com — it’s a good bet Karlsson will be dealt at or around the draft in June.
There exists a sense the Senators will make a strong play for Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin, the consensus pick to be selected first overall. If they win the draft lottery, the easy-to-envision scenario is their grabbing Dahlin and making a conscience-free trade of Karlsson for as many prospects and picks they can get. If they don’t, you can imagine their trying to move Karlsson to the team that does, hoping it has more of a winnow mandate than they do.
Dahlin may not be the next Karlsson, but there are comparisons to be made. Including a training ground shared by the two.
As a 17-year-old with Frolunda, Karlsson played seven games and had one point, a goal. He was 5-10 and weighed 157 pounds. The next season with the same team, he had five goals and 10 points in 45 games.
With Frolunda this season as a 17-year old, the 6-foot-1, 165-pound Dahlin has seven goals and 20 points in 41 games.
He might not have the flash and dash of Karlsson, but last week Niklaus Lidstrom said Dahlin is better than he himself was at the same age. And Lidstrom only went on to win the Norris Trophy seven times.
With or without Dahlin, the Senators already have another defenceman that appears headed for stardom.
You probably noticed that Thomas Chabot scored twice and turned in a stellar performance Monday, in what was very likely Karlsson’s last game wearing a Senators jersey at Canadian Tire Centre.
Consider it a passing of the torch.