SOURCE: Karlsson Traded to Penguins, Granlund & 1st to Sharks in 3-Team Deal

Elliotte Friedman started the morning off with a bang, by intimating that an Erik Karlsson trade was close.

There is a legit attempt to get an Erik Karlsson trade done today. Would involve Pittsburgh, San Jose and at least one other team to facilitate the cap gyrations. We will see how it plays out…but everyone grinding in that direction.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 6, 2023

A source then told San Jose Hockey Now that a trade was indeed close, and that the Pittsburgh Penguins, for salary cap reasons, would be sending Mikael Granlund, $5 million AAV with two years left, to the San Jose Sharks, and Jeff Petry, $6.25 million AAV with two years left, to the Montreal Canadiens, to fit in whatever is left of Karlsson’s $11.5 million AAV with four years left.

I'm hearing that Granlund is going to #SJSharks in a Karlsson trade, and I THINK Petry is being re-routed to Montreal. Not sure about other pieces. It does sound like it's happening today

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) August 6, 2023

The unconfirmed assumption is that the Sharks would retain a sizable portion of Karlsson’s deal, though it remains to be seen how much.

Friedman confirmed the SJHN report that Montreal is indeed the third team:

Pittsburgh and San Jose are completing an Erik Karlsson trade. Third team is Montreal

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 6, 2023

But it’s happening, folks! The San Jose Sharks have traded Erik Karlsson.

Here’s the rest of the trade, the San Jose Sharks are retaining just 13 percent of Karlsson’s remaining contract.

Per the Penguins, here is the trade. SJ retains $1.5M of Karlsson’s salary…Pittsburgh retains 25 per cent of Petry’s. pic.twitter.com/gxQSKSNZoi

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 6, 2023

More on this story as it develops….