7/5/18 | 12:36PM: On the 31 Thoughts Podcast, Elliotte Friedman said that the Rangers are not in on Karlsson and that he doesn't believe they ever were. (Sportsnet)
10:41AM: Larry Brooks tweets that the Rangers are "not in and never were' on Erik Karlsson but says that idea that Karlsson would not sign an extension with the Rangers is "slightly bonkers." (NY Post)
7/4/18 | Elliotte Friedman said on the radio yesterday that while the Rangers have been mentioned with Karlsson, he doesn't think they are in it.
He said that the Rangers are planning to stick to their plan.
Dallas appears to be the front runner as of now for Karlsson.
7/3/18 | 10:21AM: The Rangers are no longer part of the equation for Karlsson, according to The Fourth Period.
TFP had tweeted previously that the Rangers had expressed interest in taking on Karlsson and Bobby Ryan.
9:05AM: The Rangers are listed as part of a group of teams that are believed to have spoken with Ottawa about All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson. (Ottawa Sun)
- Rumors recently have indicated that the Rangers have "expressed interest" in potentially trying to acquire Karlsson and Bobby Ryan.
- The Rangers have long been linked to Karlsson as a potential match.
Rick Carpiniello writes in The Athletic that Karlsson won't be coming to the Rangers and that a trade for him would go against their plan to stay the course with their rebuild.
Carpiniello says that the Rangers are not willing to deal the kind of prospects it would take to get Karlsson nor would they be willing to take on Ryan's remaining four-years and cap hit of $7.25 million. (The Athletic)
The Senators have granted permission to teams interested in Karlsson to talk about a contract extension. (Brooks)
In response to a question tweeted at him over the weekend, Larry Brooks said "no" when the topic of the Rangers going hard after Ryan and Karlsson came up.
Adam Rotter: If the Rangers could get Karlsson, and take on Bobby Ryan's contract for a package including Tampa's conditional 2nd round pick, Vinni Lettieri, Brendan Smith and John Gilmour, I think they would do it. They are rebuilding and want to keep as much flexibility as possible, but if you have the chance to land Karlsson for a low price, you do it. The Rangers could also likely retain part of Ryan's salary and then move him for something else. The issue, of course, is that Ottawa would never accept a deal like that for one of the elite players in the NHL, even if he is a UFA next summer.
Ottawa would certainly want some combination of Lias Andersson, Brady Skjei, Neal Pionk, Filip Chytil, Libor Hajek, Brett Howden and the Rangers 2019 first round pick. The Rangers are not going to make a big break from their plan to do that. Now if Karlsson becomes a free agent next summer, that may be another story, but when it comes to getting Karlsson for anything other than money and cap space, the Rangers do not seem interested.