Why Sharks Fans Should Be Thankful for Karlsson Trade Rumors

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Sheng Peng: Happy early Thanksgiving!

Speaking of things to be thankful for, all San Jose Sharks fans, love him or hate him, should be thankful for Erik Karlsson trade rumors.

Here’s why: Any way you cut it, the reason why there are Karlsson trade rumors is that he’s playing so well. He’s putting up historical numbers so far this season, Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey stuff.

If he was playing half as well, trust me, there’d be ZERO interest around the league for a 32-year-old defenseman with four more years left in his contract after this season at an $11.5 million dollar cap hit per year.

There haven’t been a lot of Karlsson trade rumors for the last few years for that exact reason.

Instead, you have front offices around the league saying on one hand, Erik Karlsson is older and he’s very expensive, but on the other hand, he’s still looking like a true difference-maker.

That’s tempting for teams that think they’re close to winning a Stanley Cup.

So if you’re a Karlsson fan, be thankful for all the trade talk, because it wouldn’t be happening unless Karlsson was playing great hockey.

And if you don’t like Erik Karlsson, be thankful too, because he’s finally playing well enough that for the first time since he signed his eight-year, $92 million dollar extension in 2019, he actually appears to be tradeable.