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SAN JOSE — On a team full of star free agents, including captain Joe Pavelski and future Hall of Famer Joe Thornton, the biggest question to the Sharks’ future centers on Erik Karlsson.
Karlsson, 28, will become an unrestricted free agent July 1. He can sign an 8-year contract with the Sharks, or a 7-year contract with any other team.
“I’ve been treated with nothing but class and respect here,” Karlsson said. “I’ve seen the best side of what this organization and this city has and I like everything I’ve seen. Now I have to kind of regroup and assess everything.
“I’ve worked hard for 10 years in this league to be in the position that I’m in. I’ve earned that. It’s a big responsibility and decision coming up for me personally.
Karlsson isn’t the only one with a tough decision. The Sharks also need to decide whether to invest top dollars for a player with injury concerns.
After missing 27 of the final 33 games in the regular season with a groin issue, Karlsson was limited for Games 4 and 5 and missed Game 6 entirely as the Sharks lost their Western Conference finals series against the St. Louis Blues 4-2.
Karlsson said he still wasn’t sure if the injury would require surgery, but it wouldn’t affect his training regimen this summer.
Still, the Sharks saw first-hand the upside of having a healthy Karlsson in the lineup. After a short adjustment period, Karlsson’s play helped the Sharks become one of the best teams in the league during the middle of the season.
“He’s elite,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “That 6-8 weeks when he was in, used to our group, understood where he fit, I thought we were the best team in hockey. Unfortunately, we didn’t have him for very long.”
From Dec. 7 to Jan. 8, Karlsson became the fifth defenseman in NHL history to record an assist in 14 consecutive games.
“I think we had him healthy for maybe six weeks, and he showed what he was capable of,” general manager Doug Wilson said.
Karlsson finished with 45 points in 53 games and 16 points in 19 playoff games, including a franchise-record nine assists in the first-round series win over Las Vegas.
“I do think that if we would have been healthy and everything that we would have had a legitimate chance of winning the Cup this year, which is a great feeling to have and something that for the first time in my career I experienced,” Karlsson said. “I enjoyed that and I embraced it. I think that’s an experience that will help me grow and move forward to be able to be in that position again.”
