I'm really skeptical of that. In fact I'd say Karlsson has negative value. He's a 13th forward making $2 million for another two seasons. It just doesn't make any sense for a team to acquire that contract when they could just sign a superior UFA forward like Hansen, Colborne or Matthias for less money and likely a one-year term.
I totally disagree about him being a negative value. The only reason he is a arguably the 13th forward on our team is because we are enamored by what our 'kids' could do and that they are cheaper than Karlsson. I think Karlsson gets way too much hate because of the amount of money he makes.
Without Karlsson what would our 4th line be?
Sorenson-Suomela-Gambrell/Goodrow
Suomela and Gambrell have played a combined 3 games in the NHL and have 0 points. Goodrow is decent and has a 0.24 PPG over the 124 games he has played. But Karlsson has been better with a PPG of 0.33 over his 256 games and has never had less than 19 points over a season. That is pretty damn good for a 4th liner. He draws a lot of penalties as well and is decent defensively. He has also been asked to play up and down in the line-up and has done so well enough.
So sure, you can make the argument that he makes a lot for a 4th liner but I think he is well worth that and would have decent value in a trade. While we think Suomela, Goodrow, Sorenson and Gambrell may make him redundant, that is still to be seen. Karlsson produces more than a any of them albeit at a higher salary.
This is nothing to do with whether I want Karlsson on the team or not. I would be ok losing him simply because we have enough kids to rotate between and hopefully find a cheaper replacement for his production. But I just don't buy the fact that Karlsson has negative value.