A new team would be interested in Erik Karlsson and this is really not good news for the Canadiens

In his latest episode of 32 Thoughts today, Elliotte Friedman revealed some juicy tidbits from the past few days.

One of them is about defenseman Erik Karlsson. According to Friedman, a new team would be in the race for the Swede, the Florida Panthers.

This is really not good news for the Tricolore, since the club has the Panthers' first round pick this year. Currently, the team is playing just above .500 and given that they have a very tough schedule for the rest of the year, we can hope that this pick can potentially become a top-10 pick for the next draft.

One thing is for sure: if the Panthers go after Karlsson, there is a good chance that this pick will become less and less good for the CH.


As my colleague Vincent Fournier of LetsGoHabs.com mentions, imagine if the Tricolore is able to draft in the top 10 twice in a generational draft. It would be the most beautiful scenario to accelerate the rebuilding process of the club. However, the Panthers need to keep losing on a regular basis.

Fortunately, Florida has very little salary cap room as they flirt very close to the cap, so far this season. With the massive contract Karlsson commands, it could be extremely complex for the Panthers to make a deal for the elite defenseman.


Credit: Let's Go Habs