Is Erik Karlsson playing tonight for the San Jose Sharks? | Feb. 28th | 2022-23 NHL season

Erik Karlsson and the San Jose Sharks will face off against the Montreal Canadiens on a 10:30 PM ET kickoff from the SAP Center in San Jose. It will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

Karlsson played in the last game and is expected to skate again for the Sharks tonight. San Jose lost 4-3 in a shootout against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.

Nicko Bonino, Evgeny Svechnikov and Erik Karlsson were the scorers for the Sharks with the latter scoring with two minutes left on the clock. This tied the game at 3-3 and gave the Sharks an extra point.

That was Karlsson's 19th goal this season, taking his points tally to 77 from 19 goals and 58 assists in 60 games. He leads the Sharks in points and assists.

San Jose are currently seventh in the Pacific Division standings and are out of the playoff race. With their 18-30-12 record, they decided to enter a rebuilding phase. Their first step was to trade superstar forward Timo Meier to the New Jersey Devils.

The Montreal Canadiens lost their previous game 5-2 against the Ottawa Senators and are at the bottom of the Atlantic Division with a 25-30-4 record.

This is the second and final meeting between the two teams this season. The previous match was won by the San Jose Sharks 4-0. Some are speculating that both teams might want to lose today to increase their chances of drafting elite prospect Connor Bedard in the 2023 NHL entry draft.

Erik Karlsson involved in trade rumors

Erik Karlsson has been the best player on the Sharks roster in the 2022-23 NHL season. He leads the team in points and is 25 points clear of Timo Meier, who was recently traded to the Devils.

The Sharks received the following haul in exchange for Meier: Fabian Zetterlund, Andreas Johnsson, Nikita Okhotyuk, Shakir Mukhamadullin, a 2023 first-round pick and a conditional 2024 first-round pick.

As the team has entered its rebuilding phase, it would make the most sense if they were to trade their best players for some future prospects. After Meier, Karlsson could be next on the list.

On Sunday, San Jose Sharks manager Mike Grier spoke to the media about the Timo Meier trade and gave an update on Karlsson's situation.

Erik Karlsson signed an eight-year, $92 million extension with the Sharks in 2019 which keeps him in San Jose until 2027. His contract has a huge salary cap hit of $11.5 million.

The Edmonton Oilers were among the heavy favorites to get a deal completed. To make this deal go through, the Oilers will need to bring Karlsson's contract down to $7 million and the Sharks would need to eat $4-5 million of his contract. However, General Manager Mike Grier is only willing to retain between $2-3 million.