As if this season wasn't going badly enough for the San Jose Sharks, now comes word that star defenseman Erik Karlsson will miss the remainder of the regular season. According to NBC Sports, Karlsson has a broken left thumb that happened in Friday's 3-2 victory over the host Winnipeg Jets.
This is, obviously, a major blow and piles on top of injuries the Sharks are already dealing with. All-Star center Tomas Hertl was recently lost to a torn ACL and MCL in his left knee and captain Logan Couture is out for an extended stretch after fracturing his left ankle.
It's already a given that San Jose won't make the post-season. The team sits 13th in the NHL's Western Conference with 24 games remaining.
Karlsson's season ends with 40 points (six goals, 34 assists) in 56 games played. It's also the first season played under an eight-year, $92 million contract that runs through the 2026-27 season. The Sharks acquired Karlsson in a trade with Ottawa in September of 2018. He missed 27 of the Sharks' final 33 regular season games last year while recovering from groin surgery.
If this is good news for anyone, it's the Ottawa Senators as they have San Jose's first-round pick in the upcoming entry draft which was acquired in the Karlsson trade. Ottawa will end up with two high picks in a year where the draft is deep with talent.
Source: NBC Sports
