NHL Rumors: Erik Karlsson Heading to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 3-Way Trade

The San Jose Sharks are working tirelessly to move defenseman Erik Karlsson. The Norris-trophy winning blueliner will be heading to the Pittsburgh Penguins at some point and time, but as far as who is all going to be involved, nothing as of yet has been confirmed.

Hockey insider Elliotte Friedman tweeted out Sunday morning the latest on the deal, and it appears a third team will be involved, as expected, for salary cap purposes.

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

The Penguins currently sit with no cap space and don't have room to add Karlsson and his $11.5 million salary for the next four seasons. Ideally, the Penguins have Karlsson on the cap for $5.75 million or less, which will take some serious creativity from Pens GM Kyle Dubas.

The good news for Pens fans here is the fact Dubas has a history of pulling off these types of trades. As GM of the Maple Leafs, Dubas landed Ryan O'Reilly at the trade deadline last season and instead of paying him $6.5 million, O'Reilly was only on the Leafs cap for $1.8 million, thanks to the Minnesota Wild who retained salary for draft-pick compensation.

As far as what Pittsburgh is likely moving on from, the likes of Jeff Petry, Mikael Granlund and Samuel Poulin have been reportedly linked to this deal.

Karlsson will be a Penguin next season. Smart move for Pittsburgh?

Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports