Erik Karlsson landing with the Toronto Maple Leafs sounds like a stretch, until you hear who's saying it.
Elliotte Friedman dropped the theory on the 32 Thoughts Podcast this week, and it's already spreading through hockey circles.
"I got back from vacation and I started calling around," Friedman said. "One guy said to me, my prediction is Erik Karlsson becomes a Toronto Maple Leaf."
Friedman was quick to call it a theory, not a report. But he didn't dismiss it either.
"That's a good theory," Friedman said, leaving his co-host visibly stunned.
His source didn't stop at just a hunch. The pitch leaned on a Swedish pipeline suddenly running through Toronto's front office.
"If it comes to the point where he's on the market, Matt Sundin, Daniel Alfredsson, Erik Karlsson, Toronto," the source told Friedman.
Friedman puts Maple Leafs at center of major Erik Karlsson speculation
Karlsson is entering the final year of his eight-year deal with Pittsburgh this season, the kind of contract situation that tends to speed up trade talk.
He posted 66 points last season with the Penguins, 15 goals and 51 assists over 75 games, still one of the more productive defensemen in the league at 36.
Pittsburgh finished 41-25-16 for 98 points last season, tenth overall, a group that still has real playoff aspirations.
If the Penguins fall out of contention this season, moving Karlsson's $11,500,000 cap hit becomes a much easier call for Kyle Dubas, his former Leafs boss.
Karlsson also holds a no-movement clause, which means none of this happens without him agreeing to waive it first and approve a destination.
Dubas already knows Toronto's roster and market intimately from his years running the Leafs before Pittsburgh hired him away.
Toronto, meanwhile, just finished 32-36-14 and hired Jim Hiller as head coach after a seven-game losing streak closed out last season.
That's a team looking for anything to change its fortunes on the blue line.
Nobody is calling this close to done. But when Friedman calls a theory good, hockey fans tend to remember it long before anything actually happens
Source : NHL's Top Insider links Erik Karlsson to Toronto Maple Leafs.
Would you want the Maple Leafs to trade for a 36-year-old Erik Karlsson?
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