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The Sharks aren't ready to accept reality

July 25, 2023, 2:05 PM ET [131 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Things aren't going to move forward on an Erik Karlsson trade until Mike Grier and the San Jose Sharks read the room correctly. None of the suitors for Erik Karlsson are going to give up the assets the Sharks are currently looking for.





The Sharks are still looking for a significant return for Erik Karlsson, and they haven’t found one team that’s willing to give them anywhere close to that, and so those teams have all essentially sat back and said, ‘Hey, call us in August. You let us know when you want to talk and we can pick this up again, but we’re not giving you anything significant.’ And that’s problematic for the Sharks, because they think this is a player that you have to get a return for, and more than that, they don’t really want to get nothing and retain 20 percent on this player just to get him off their books. So, I think the hang-up has been a little bit along the same lines that we heard back at the trade deadline, which is, the Sharks are looking for a significant deal and they’re not properly valuing the cap space, the freedom, the flexibility from getting off of an $11.5 million player. And that’s really what’s holding this back.


Mike Grier is early on in his GM tenure with the Sharks. Newish GM's usually like to try and prove they can't be pushed around and won't be taken advantage of. Unfortunately, for him given the situation with Karlsson he is staring a cap dump in the face and doesn't realize it yet.

Erik Karlsson's trade value will never be higher for the rest of his career and the market is dictating he is a cap dump. If you don't trade him now and he gets hurt or sees a dip in offensive production now you are holding the bag of an 11.5M player while going through a rebuild.

Eventually, Grier and the Sharks will have to come to grips with the reality of the situation. They will not be getting the compensation they think they will for a 100 point player.

Thanks for reading!
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