It Has Been 26 Days Since It Was Reported An Erik Karlsson Trade To Tampa Was Finalized Pending A Trade Call
In the weeks leading into the NHL draft and free agency period, it looked like it was a lock that Erik Karlsson was going to get traded out of Ottawa. Teams like Vegas, Dallas and Tampa were all in the mix. And on July 5, TSN reporter Shawn Simpson said that a source told him the Erik Karlsson Sweepstakes were officially over as a deal to send him down to the Tampa Bay Lightning was finalized and the only thing left to do was have the trade call be approved by the league. He’s since deleted the original tweet but here’s the follow up on how everything played out from there.
Now I’m not here to rip on Shawn Simpson for getting this one wrong. When there’s a situation like the one that the Senators and Karlsson have found themselves in, everybody wants a little piece of the action. And sources start flying around out of nowhere. And once you hear something from anybody, you just pray that it’s true, close your eyes and smash the send button on that tweet. Shawn Simpson certainly wasn’t the first person to run with some bad intel and he definitely won’t be the last. Does this serve as a reminder to only trust the highly esteemed members of the media such as Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, Elliotte Friedman, and myself when it comes to the rumor mill? Yes it does. But I don’t fault Shawn Simpson at all for getting this one wrong.
What I do fault him for, however, is that we’ve pretty much heard nothing about any Erik Karlsson deals or conversations since. It’s been 26 days of pretty much nothing but silence. And I think it’s because everybody is just a little too gun shy after Shawn Simpson got rejected by the rim on his dunk attempt. It’s like all the smaller reporters were all going to the quarry and Shawn Simpson was the first one to jump into the water. Only he landed on a rock and died and now nobody else wants to jump. Which sucks because the Erik Karlsson trade rumors were my main source of life for a while. Think about how boring the summer has gotten over the last few weeks. Think about how little news there has been out of the NHL over the last few weeks. It’s all tied directly to a lack of Karlsson rumors, and all of that is due to Shawn Simpson shooting his shot with the gun pointed backwards. It’s a goddamn shame and I just want some answers. Hell, I don’t even need actual answers. Just a few updates to tide me over until the season starts. 26 days of silence is too much for one man to take.