Interim GM: `Nothing is off-limits' regarding trades

SAN JOSE >> Joe Will, the Sharks interim general manager, said he's open to discussing the possibility of trading either Brent Burns or Erik Karlsson this offseason if he feels such a move would improve the team.

“We do need to, anytime, look at getting better however we can and nothing is off-limits,” Will told this news organization earlier this week. “But having said that, they're exceptional players and we have a lot of very high-end players. Ideally, we'd like to include everybody in what we're doing here, but again, we'll just see what happens moving forward as we bring in a new (general manager).

“Nothing's imminent. No changes are imminent or anything like that, but open to discuss. Yeah, I think if you want to get better, you have to discuss it.”

The Sharks are still in the early stages of their search for a new full-time GM, and team president Jonathan Becher said this week that a person might not be in place until late July or early August.

Would the new general manager have to be involved in such a big decision to trade either Karlsson or Burns, or could a move be made before another person is hired?

“I don't think we're just going to stop in our tracks and just wait,” Will said. “We're ongoing with as much as we can do right now, pursuing discussions on everything from contracts to the draft to looking at free agents we could perhaps acquire in the summer to potential trades. We do look at it all.

“And then as the GM comes in with their own vision, we'll

include that in the process. But no, we're not stopping in our tracks. We're moving along with everything.”

Burns is the Sharks' leader with 594 points in 798 games since he was acquired from the Minnesota Wild in 2011, and at 37, is coming off a season in which he had 54 points in 82 games and averaged 26:07 of ice time per night.

Karlsson, 31, is second behind Burns among Sharks defensemen with 142 points in 211 games since he was acquired from the Ottawa Senators in 2018. He's battled a variety of injuries and has missed 79 regular-season games in four seasons. His absence has been felt whenever he's been out of the lineup, especially of late.

Still, the Sharks have missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons, with a combined record of 82-101-25 in that time, and have stated their intention to contend for the postseason next year.

Trading either Burns or Karlsson could bring in a legitimate top-six winger in return, or create enough salary-cap space to add one in another deal or in free agency.

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said the Sharks had held preliminary trade discussions with a couple of other teams about Karlsson over the weekend. Although those discussions will likely fizzle out, Friedman added it might represent an acknowledgment by the Sharks that having both Burns and Karlsson is a luxury the team can no longer afford.

Trading either Burns or Karlsson could present some challenges.

Burns and Karlsson have had a combined salary-cap hit of $19.5 million, or 23.9% of the $81.5 million cap, for each of the last three seasons. Burns' eightyear, $64 million deal lasts for another three years, and Karlsson's deal, with an $11.5 million cap hit, expires at the end of the 202627 season.

Karlsson has a full nomovement clause and has the ability to veto any trade. Burns has a modified no-trade clause in which he would accept a trade to one of only three teams of his choosing.

But Will suggested that the Sharks are not that far down the road yet, as they continue to determine the specific areas in which they need to improve before they finalize a plan for how they're going to solve the issue.

“Right now, it's really just looking at this year and trying to put together the template,” Will said. “What areas do we want to improve and things like that. It's kind of more the what before the who.

“So I think the who is a little premature. It's more about what can we do, and then, who do we have and maybe there's positions of strength that we switch for positions of need.”