Insider believes Erik Karlsson could return to the Atlantic Division

Ever since San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier told reporters at the GM Meetings that he's willing to listen to offers on defenceman Erik Karlsson, rumours have been running rampant.

During Wednesday's edition of 32 Thoughts, Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman said that if Karlsson became available, the Florida Panthers would be interested.

Karlsson, 32, has had an incredible season so far for San Jose and even though it's still early, he deserves to be in the Norris Trophy conversation. In 26 games, he's put up 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists), eight penalty minutes and is a minus-three.

A trade between San Jose and Florida involving Erik Karlsson would be extremely complicated. Karlsson is under contract for four more years after this season and has a cap hit of $11.5 million. Meanwhile, the Panthers don't have any cap space left and are currently $2.765 million into long-term injured reserve.

One possibility for a trade with the Sharks and Panthers could be for San Jose to acquire Sergei Bobrovsky, although his no-movement clause might make that tough. The Panthers seem fully ready to commit to having Spencer Knight as their starting netminder, so moving Bobrovsky and his massive contract, while bringing in a solid defenceman in Erik Karlsson would be huge for them. Hypothetically, if that trade were to happen, the Panthers could also try to get James Reimer to be their new backup goaltender. But as mentioned before, a trade would be extremely complicated due to salary cap reasons.

Source: 32 Thoughts

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