Mock Trades: Landing spots and returns for Erik Karlsson

Continuing the train of thought that Penguins' Kyle Dubas is actively looking for trade partners, let's look at Erik Karlsson and teams he could be traded to as well as what a realistic return might look like.

Karlsson's Details

In Erik Karlsson's second season with the Penguins since being acquired from the San Jose Sharks, the three-time Norris Trophy winner has finally found his niche.

Last season, he was often maligned for carelessness with the puck, lack of offensive production despite that being his selling point, and an outward, overall desire to not play defense.

That narrative has changed recently. When Marcus Pettersson went down with injury, Karlsson was thrust onto the penalty killing unit, and he's done a decent job. Additionally, his defense has been noticeably better, which makes his trade value more streamlined and solid.

In the last two seasons, the expectation with Karlsson is that his offensive production would outweigh his lack of defensive effort. This season, we're starting to get the best of both worlds. While he isn't scoring goals, he is creating them with his 28 assists and his innate ability to secure clean zone entries - a skill very valuable on the power play.

Karlsson's contract is the biggest bugaboo for the Penguins when looking to deal him away. He will have two more years with an $11.5M cap hit through his age 37 season. Should the Penguins trade him, retaining some salary is likely.

Now, let's see who some suitors might be and what the Penguins can expect in return.

The Detroit Red Wings have been pegged as suitors for Erik Karlsson, which is a bit confusing, but I'll take a crack at a possible deal.

The problem with the Red Wings is that their defensive core is old, so Karlsson isn't making them any younger. For the Penguins, this would be a contract dump in more ways than an acquisition haul.

Dealing away Gustafsson would help Detroit work out the numbers and get rid of dead weight. The Penguins retaining about $3M a year on Karlsson's salary and acquiring a future pick would help even out the returns.

As for Nate Danielson, it might be a steep ask as he is a top five prospect in Detroit's system, which is ranked in the top five prospect systems in the NHL. He's 20 years-old and is closer to the NHL than a lot of top prospects, meaning the return for the Penguins could see almost immediate dividends.

This move, again, would be less to get back talent and moreso to get rid of a lot of the cap space associated with Karlsson.

This one is very interesting. The Columbus Blue Jackets have the most available cap space in the NHL.

Eating Erik Karlsson's contract would be secondary to the fact that they'd be acquiring a proven, playoff seasoned veteran into a lineup of budding youngsters.

Columbus is within striking distance of a playoff berth, and they can almost taste getting back for the first time since 2019. The stars are almost perfectly aligned for the Blue Jackets to go after Karlsson.

In return, Denton Mateychuk could be another NHL-ready fit for Pittsburgh to develop. He's already seen some time at the NHL level with Columbus, and he was their preseason 2nd highest ranked prospect.

The Blue Jackets might be most neutral fit for both sides. Columbus gets a big name. Pittsburgh gets a young defenseman and sheds $11.5M in cap space. There's a possibility of getting more back from Columbus, but I'll leave it at this for now. Jackets fans seem to like him a lot - maybe too much.

I mentioned the Flames and Zayne Parekh in my possible destinations for Rickard Rakell if he were to be dealt, and I'll echo a lot of the rationale here.

The Flames are so close to being a real playoff contender, but they need one more piece. They, like Columbus, also have plenty of cap space to work with, meaning the burden of Karlsson's salary would not be as much of a roadblock as it would be for other teams.

With that, I think retaining some salary could get this deal done, and I think it would be a fair tradeoff.

Parekh is projecting to be the reincarnation of Erik Karlsson. So if you like what you see with EK65, here's a version of him that's almost two decades younger and doesn't require the GDP of a small European country.

If Parekh is the return, holding on to around $3M of Karlsson's salary is worth it in my eyes, especially if it finalizes the deal.

For both the Blue Jackets and Flames, the question remains: How far will you go to show your fans that you're willing to win right now?

Kyle Dubas has an opportunity to exploit such visions of grandeur. Trading Erik Karlsson for the sake of trading him isn't enough. The return has to be forward thinking and objectively valuable.