All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson signed an eight-year deal to remain with the San Jose Sharks. The team did not release contract figures, but multiple reports on Monday said it’s worth about $11.5 million per year — $92 million total.
His contract will be among the NHL’s richest in annual average value. Connor McDavid of Edmonton is the league’s highest-paid player, with a $12.5 million annual average value.
Karlsson, 29, could have become the league’s marquee free agent this offseason as he reached the end of the seven-year, $45.5 million contract he signed with the Ottawa Senators, who selected him No. 15 overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft. He is a two-time winner of the NHL’s Norris Trophy (2012 and 2015) and a six-time All-Star.
Limited to 53 games last season with a groin injury, Karlsson had 45 points (three goals, 42 assists). In 680 career NHL games, he has 563 points (129 goals, 434 assists).
–Pittsburgh Penguins forward Phil Kessel recently vetoed a trade, and the team is no longer seeking to move him, general manager Jim Rutherford said on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh.
Kessel, a 13-year veteran with 357 goals and 466 assists in his career, reportedly nixed a trade to the Minnesota Wild, which were not on Kessel’s list of approved trade destinations.
Kessel, 31, had 27 goals and 55 assists in 82 games for the Penguins last season, his fourth with the team. He helped Pittsburgh win the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017. He is under contract through the 2021-22 season.
–The New York Rangers acquired defenseman Jacob Trouba from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for defenseman Neal Pionk and the 20th overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft.
Trouba, 25, set career highs in assists (42) and points (50) last season, playing in all 82 regular-season games for the first time in his career. Among defensemen, he tied for ninth in the league in assists and was 13th in points.
Trouba, selected by Winnipeg with the ninth pick in the 2012 draft, has played in 408 games for the Jets in the past six seasons, with 137 assists and 42 goals. Pionk, 23, has appeared in 101 games for the Rangers in the past two seasons, with 33 assists and seven goals.
–The Anaheim Ducks announced Dallas Eakins as their head coach. Eakins, 52, most recently was head coach of the Ducks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the San Diego Gulls.
Eakins also has NHL head coaching experience, leading the Edmonton Oilers to a 36-63-14 record from 2013-15. He played for eight teams across a 10-year NHL career as a defenseman, scoring no goals and adding nine assists.
Eakins replaces Randy Carlyle, who was fired as Ducks coach in February after a dreadful 2-15-4 stretch where Anaheim lost 12 straight games (0-8-4) from Dec. 18-Jan. 15. General manager Bob Murray served as interim coach for the rest of the season, leading the Ducks to a 14-11-1 record.
–The Ottawa Senators re-signed left winger Anthony Duclair on a one-year, $1.65 million contract.
Duclair, who was acquired in a February trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets, could have become a restricted free agent this offseason. The 23-year-old had 33 points (19 goals, 14 assists) in a combined 74 games with Columbus and Ottawa last season.
Duclair, a third-round draft pick of the New York Rangers in 2013, broke into the NHL as a 19-year-old with New York in the 2014-15 season. He has 122 career points (56 goals, 66 assists) in 287 games with five teams.
–The Columbus Blue Jackets re-signed left wing Markus Hannikainen to a one-year contract for the 2019-20 season. The Athletic reported the deal is worth $750,000.
Hannikainen, 26, recorded seven points (four goals, three assists) in 44 games with the Blue Jackets in 2018-19. He set career highs in goals, points and games played.
The Blue Jackets originally signed Hannikainen, a native of Finland, in April 2015. He played four years before that in Liiga, Finland’s top professional league.
–Field Level Media
