Screen Shots: Nashville Predators, Calgary Flames and Erik Karlsson

Welcome back to Screen Shots – a regular THN.com feature in which we analyze a few different hockey topics in one column and break things down into shorter paragraphs. Let’s get right to it:

If you’re a Nashville Predators fan, you had to be ecstatic with this past weekend’s Ryan Johansen trade to the Colorado Avalanche. It might be a little bit difficult to bid farewell to a guy who’d been a solid contributor and great Nashville citizen, but let’s be real here – Johansen was making too much money (at a salary cap hit of $8 million for the next two years, per PuckPedia) and not generating enough offense.

The 30-year-old Johansen is clearly a depreciated asset, but removing him opens up opportunities for the young players in the Preds system. Incoming GM Barry Trotz can now take better stock of what the organization has (and what it needs) with Johansen out of the way. 

Yes, the Preds had to eat half of Johansen’s cap hit, but they didn't give up prospects or picks, and that's huge. This team doesn’t really have any untouchables – or at least, a team that shouldn’t have any. Trotz’s willingness to bite into what had been the core of the roster is bold and completely called for.

The Preds are now going to be especially intriguing to watch the rest of the summer, and Nashville fans should be excited by team brass moving on from the status quo. It’s been a long time coming, and although the next couple of years will have potholes, their performance ceiling is going to be much higher than it otherwise would be if they kept on retooling-on-the-fly season after season.

Similarly, there looks to be major changes ahead for the Calgary Flames this summer. Rumors abound that team cornerstones Mikael Backlund, Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli all might be seeking new employers one way or another. 

Is that such a terrible thing? We’d argue it isn’t, especially considering the Flames don’t have the type of generational talent on board for the next decade or longer. 

It will be painful indeed if all these guys want out, but if the end result is Calgary finally bottoming out and eventually picking first or second overall in one of the NHL drafts, this tear-down process will be very much worthwhile.

The Flames will have to wait a couple of years for their new arena, and maybe it's good synergy to have to wait for a quality team to occupy that rink eventually. 

New GM Craig Conroy has a clean slate and will face tough decisions on the core, but hey, if the guys who underachieved greatly last season don’t want to stick around, don’t let something like ego force you to keep them on the roster. Calgary’s legion of fans will always support the team, so Conroy may as well use the time and patience he has at present to better serve the franchise over the long term.

Another major rebuild is taking place in San Jose, with superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson continually being rumored to be on the trade block. 

Karlsson’s name has been in the rumor mill since well into this past season, but his pricey salary – a cap hit of $11.5 million for the next four seasons per PuckPedia – has prevented Sharks GM Mike Grier from moving him.

That said, now that we’re in the off-season where many more teams have cap flexibility they may not have had in the 2022-23 campaign, Grier’s task of moving Karlsson should be easier – to the point they may not have to retain even a third of Karlsson’s cap hit. 

Really, if San Jose retained one-quarter of Karlsson’s salary, the team that traded him would be on the hook for less than $9 million per season. That’s not chump change, but for a Norris Trophy contender? That should be manageable for many teams looking to make the jump competitively.

This makes Grier's task of creating a bidding war more possible. People have mentioned the possibility of him returning to Ottawa, but if you're Grier, don't you have to take a chance and see if you could lure the Leafs, Red Wings and Sabres into the discussion? 

Sometimes trades are made as much to acquire a player as they are to keep them away from a rival team, and though Grier is almost assuredly going to have to eat some of Karlsson's salary, a bidding war would drive up the return for Karlsson in any deal. San Jose can move him far, far from their division and bring in some draft picks and/or prospects to help them long-term.

Grier clearly couldn't get much traction with Karlsson at the trade deadline, but now that we're talking about a brand new season, and all the cap space teams like Detroit and Buffalo are going to have, Grier can exploit the heightened expectations and get more teams in on the bidding. The guy still has lots of elite-level game left, and San Jose needs to capitalize while the interest in him is as high as it is at the moment.

Finally, here are our very best wishes to Anaheim Ducks goalie coach Sudarshan Maharaj, who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Everyone’s life has been touched by cancer in one shape or form, and the only thing we get to control is the way we respond to the challenges presented by such a diagnosis. Maharaj is well-loved in the hockey world, and we here at THN only want the best for him and his family.