THERE’S ALWAYS HOPE
Captain Erik Karlsson remains open to signing a long-term deal to stay in Ottawa
The captain wants to stick around to right the ship.
As the Ottawa Senators gathered for locker clean out day Monday at the Canadian Tire Centre, a clean-shaven Erik Karlsson told reporters he knows he may have suited up for his last game with the franchise, but indicated he’d like to come back and is prepared to sign long-term.
While the 26-year-old Karlsson sent shivers through the fan base when he picked up the puck after the club’s final home game against the Winnipeg Jets last Monday, he indicated he hopes that wasn’t the case.
“There’s always a possibility that’s going to be the case, unfortunately. That’s not what I hope for and it’s not something that I’m planning on happening,” Karlsson said. “With what we went through this year, there is going to be a few changes and hopefully I’m not one of them.
“I’m going to deal with that as we move along this summer, but I’m still hopeful that the puck that I picked up is not going to be the one that’s going to be the last.”
The Senators listened to offers for Karlsson at the Feb. 26 NHL trade deadline and there was no shortage of interest. Many of the teams interested — including the Vegas Golden Knights and Tampa Bay Lightning — will circle back to before the NHL draft June 22-23 in Dallas.
General manager Pierre Dorion stated publicly in a conference call with season ticket holders last month the Senators will make Karlsson an offer for a contract extension July 1. Sources say that will be what the club considers a “fair market” offer and the hope is it will lead to an extension.
Karlsson can become a unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2019, and the Senators can’t hold formal contract talks with him until this summer. It’s believed his camp will be looking for an eight-year extension in the $80-to-$100-million range.
“That’s something we’re going to have to deal with here moving forward and it’s not something that I’ve been concentrating on or thinking about,” Karlsson said. “I still have another year on my deal and I’m really happy about being in the position I am and that this isn’t the last year of my deal.
“That’s going to be questions we’re going to all go through this summer. I do love this community, I love this organization and I love this city. This is where I live and this is where I’ll end up retiring no matter where I end up and when it comes down to it that part will sort itself out.
“I do think there’s no question in my mind that this is where I’ve always wanted to be for as long as I can be.”
He said his relationship with owner Eugene Melnyk and Dorion is good.
“It’s very unfortunate that the season that we had came at the time that I am in my contract,” Karlsson said. "That’s the business part of things. They handled their business and I handled mine.
I’m still hopeful the puck that I picked up is not going to be the one that’s going to be the last. Erik Karlsson
“That’s just part of it. It’s something that I haven’t gone through before, it’s a new experience and it’s not very pleasant. It’s something that happens for a lot of people and not only me. I think on that aspect of things (his relationship with the team) things haven’t changed.
“We still have a lot of respect for each other and whatever went down is part of the business. That’s all that it was. I never took anything personally and I don’t think that they did either.”
Karlsson is hopeful the club can return to respectability quickly and that there isn’t a massive rebuild here.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said. “We’re going to need a lot of younger guys to come in and do well and I do think that the program that we have and the younger guys that we’ve drafted are ready to step in and to be full-time NHLers.
“That doesn’t mean they’re going to be the player they’re going to be next year or the year after that but I do think you have a bright future here and it’s possible to win here. Whenever that is I’m not really sure but with the core guys we do have and the young guys coming in this is a team I’d love to win with at some point in the future.”
At some point in the off-season, Karlsson will sit down with Dorion to discuss the path the organization is going to take to try to get back to respectability after one of the worst years in franchise history.
“That’s going to happen. They’re going to sit down and explain where they want to go with a lot of the guys not only me, what they’re thinking and what they’re seeing,” Karlsson said.
“That’s important for guys to know, especially after a year like this, going into the summer and heading into next year and coming into training camp with a purpose, whatever that purpose is, it just needs to be one way or the other. That’s something that we’ll get to as the summer progresses. I’m going to be here for a long time, I’m going to spend the summer here, and their door is always open and so is mine."