Born in Lansbro, Sweden, Erik Karlsson has quickly become one of the NHL’s most effective defenseman. Karlsson was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in 2008 and for the past nine years has been the team’s top defenseman winning two Norris trophies (awarded to the league’s best defenseman) and tallying 518 points in 627 games from the blue line. However, as of September 14th Karlsson will no longer be sporting the black and red.
The San Jose Sharks were the recipient of arguably the league’s biggest trade of the summer. Karlsson was part of a deal for Chris Tierney, Dylan DeMelo, and two prospects, Rudolfs Balcers and Josh Norris, as well as a few future draft picks.
The trade was somewhat expected. Rumors regarding Karlsson had been floating around the league since December of last year, but what jersey the Swedish star would be wearing this coming season was up for debate. It was said that up to eight different teams in the league were after Karlsson.
Reasons for the trade stem from a situation involving a teammate, Mike Hoffman, and his wife Monika Caryk. Both players were traded out of Ottawa this offseason because of allegations stating hundreds of examples of cyber-bullying on social media by Caryk towards Erik Karlsson, his wife Melinda Karlsson, and the unfortunate still birth of their first child.
One example that the Karlsson’s brought occurred on Instagram. Karlsson had posted a photo of his son’s footprints as a tribute and a comment from a fake account read, “I feel bad for the baby he didn’t have a chance with Melinda popping pain killer medication every day.” Karlsson immediately commented back, “How dare you. You have been making fake accounts and buying hacked ones for months to harass me and my wife but this is an all new low even for you. You are a disgusting person.”
Hoffman and Caryk deny the allegations fully, but regardless of what is true and what is not, the trade of both high-level players is sure to shake the league. Karlsson comes as an addition to an already very strong San Jose lineup joining super stars like Burns, Kane, Thornton, Pavelski, and Couture.
