San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson reiterated Tuesday that he wasn’t fazed by general manager Mike Grier’s comment earlier this month that he would be open to listening to trade offers for the two-time Norris Trophy winner.
“I understand that’s part of the business and I think (Grier) has done a great job ever since he came in,” Karlsson said before the Sharks’ game against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre.
“You can tell that he’s very driven and he knows what he needs to do to move this organization forward, and in order to do that, he has to have an open mind, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Karlsson made similar statements on Nov. 17 when he told reporters in San Jose that he understood where Grier was coming from. “He’s got an open mindset about everything regarding here,” Karlsson said then, “and he should. We haven’t been a good hockey team for a long time.”
Karlsson had 32 points in 24 games this season before Tuesday and with two assists in San Jose’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday, became the first Sharks defenseman to reach 20 points in a calendar month with five goals and 16 assists.
Despite Karlsson’s record-setting production, one that has generated some buzz of a third Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman, the Sharks will need an abrupt turnaround to avoid missing the playoffs for a fourth straight year.
The Sharks (7-13-4) have lost five of their last six games and entered Tuesday in seventh place in the Pacific Division.
Grier told reporters in Toronto on Nov. 15 that he would consider deals for Karlsson, “but ultimately it’s also going to be up to Erik. He has a no-trade clause and he has control over what he wants to do.”
Karlsson said Tuesday he realizes Grier, hired in July to help change the direction of the Sharks franchise, needs to explore ways to improve the team for the long term.
It was reported in October that Grier would listen to trade offers for just about anybody on the Sharks roster other than Tomas Hertl, who has just started an eight-year, $65.1 million contract.
Besides the possibility of pending unrestricted free agents such as James Reimer, Nick Bonino, and Matt Nieto being moved prior to the March 3 trade deadline, there are also questions about Timo Meier’s long-term future with the Sharks. Meier, tied with Logan Couture for the team lead in goals with 12 goals, is a pending restricted free agent.
“So I don’t think that there’s any surprise with any of the talk going around,” Karlsson said. “I just think that if anything, it’s a good thing, because it’s going to push the guys to figure out what they really want.”
Any trade involving Karlsson would certainly be complex, as he has four more seasons remaining on his contract that carries an average annual value of $11.5 million, too much for most teams to fit under their salary cap structure.
For now, the Sharks simply want to take greater advantage of Karlsson’s offensive prowess, as, before Tuesday, they were just 6-6-4 when he has one point or more in a game. They are 1-7-0 when he does not have a point.
“I would rather stand here and talk to you guys if we were in a different situation, team-wise. That’s just how it is,” Karlsson said. “But all we can do is control what we can control and I think (we’re) doing that. We’re all progressing in our own way and we’re all trying to do what we can to help the team win games.
“Obviously, we haven’t done enough of that this year, but it still feels like we’re heading in the right direction. Everybody’s excited about where we’re going and however long that takes, who knows.”
Karlsson has factored into 32 of 72 goals scored for San Jose this season (44.4 percent). Per NHL PR, the highest-ever rate in the NHL’s modern era – since the 1943-44 season – at which a defenseman factored into team goals for a season was Bobby Orr at 43.3 percent in 1969-70.
“He’s played a lot of complete hockey games for us,” Sharks coach David Quinn said, “and when he does that, we have a much better chance to win.”
QUINN ON FERRARO: Quinn told reporters Tuesday that defenseman Mario Ferraro is considered week-to-week with an unspecified lower-body injury. Ferraro, who is on the trip, was placed on injured reserve Saturday, a day after he blocked four shots in a 5-2 Sharks loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
Ferraro is second among all Sharks skaters behind Karlsson in average time on ice (22:49) and is the team’s leading penalty killer. In Sunday’s game with Vancouver, Jaycob Megna played 22:16, and Matt Benning played 21:54, with Benning and Marc-Edouard leading the Sharks in average time on ice.
Nick Cicek has taken Ferraro’s spot in the lineup for the time being. The Sharks’ road trip continues with games in Toronto on Wednesday, Ottawa on Saturday, and Buffalo on Sunday, and they have games next week against Vancouver on Dec. 7 and Anaheim on Dec. 9.
LINEUP CHANGES: Quinn wouldn’t divulge his lineup for Tuesday’s game but there were strong indications forward Jeffrey Viel would play.
Viel, recalled by the Sharks from the Barracuda on Monday, is a native of Rimouski, Quebec, which is about 330 miles to the northeast of Montreal. Viel has played 45 NHL games in his five seasons in the Sharks organization, but never at Bell Centre.
