Erik Karlsson trade talks picking up again
Elliotte Friedman: There is the sense that trade talks involving Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson have picked up the past few days. The likely destination is a Western Conference team. The belief out there is that the Vancouver Canucks have checked in to see if there is a match.
Darren Dreger: Sources confirming that teams interested in Karlsson have started stepping up again and trade talks are starting to move again.
John Shannon: After a quick talk with Canucks GM Jim Benning … he said there is no truth the Canucks being in on the Karlsson trade talks.
Ian MacIntyre: sense is that the Canucks are likely doing their due-diligence on Karlsson. It’s hard to see there being a fit with the Senators. The Canucks have been against trading Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, etc.
Spector’s Hockey: Regarding the trade talk speculation involving the Vancouver Canucks and Erik Karlsson, need to remember Karlsson has a 10-team no-trade list. Karlsson may not be interested in a rebuilding team.
Nichols’ on Hockey: Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet’s Tim & Sid show and was asked if Erik Karlsson to the Canucks could ‘actually be a thing.” Wouldn’t expect them to be interested in moving Hughes, Petterson or Boeser like MacIntyre suggested.
“The one thing I would say about Vancouver is this: They were in on P.K. Subban and they couldn’t get that deal done because Montreal figured there was no chance of Pierre-Luc Dubois getting to them. They had an internal meeting where they talked about pitching John Tavares – they didn’t get a seat at the table there. So I don’t see why it’s so unbelievable that they would be in on this.
“Also I think internally, this is a team that just made a change at the top of its organization because Trevor Linden wanted a slower process and the rest of the organization didn’t want that. So I don’t see why it’s so far-fetched that they would make an inquiry about it.
Friedman doesn’t think the Canucks are favorites and is not convinced that Karlsson would be interested in signing a long-term deal with them.
Friedman adds that he thinks the Senators want to send him to the Western Conference.
“I think Dallas is up on that list. I think Las Vegas would be up on that list. I think San Jose has quietly been circling in and out on that list. And there could be other teams we’re not aware of.
“But I don’t think the idea Vancouver would consider this would be so far-fetched.”