from Corey Masisak of The Athletic,

Karlsson spoke to The Athletic about his thoughts on all of the changes, his conversations with new GM Mike Grier and coach David Quinn and the direction of the franchise. And we talked about his health, which is sure to be a popular topic, given that he has missed 25-plus games in three of his four seasons with the Sharks.

A lot has happened with the organization this offseason … what was your general reaction to all of the changes?

I mean, I think it was long overdue, probably. It’s just the way it goes. They’ve had the same things here for so long and they’ve been doing a good job at it, but obviously lately that hasn’t been the case. So you kind of figured when one domino fell that the rest would follow it. And that’s kind of where we’re at right now.

Obviously you’re going to get a lot of questions about your health in the coming weeks. You said you feel even better … is there anything you can to point to as a theme of the injury issues the past few years, or has it been a random thing here, fluke thing there type of situation?

Yeah, it’s hard to say. I think the injuries that I’ve had since I got here … some of them probably could have been prevented a little bit and some of them were just like, things happen. I broke my thumb when blocked a shot. I mean, what are you going to do? That’s part of the game. I had some wear and tear where, if we were in a different position where you can take some time off and maybe look after it a little bit different, maybe it doesn’t get to the point where you have to have surgery. It is all circumstantial. I think now maybe I should be a little bit more cautious about when things come on, even if it means missing a little bit of time here and there in order to not miss a lot of time at the end of the year. Hopefully we’re in a position where we can afford to do that.

I think overall, I’ve been fairly fortunate to be able to play through everything that I’ve had. It screwed a few of my summers up, but other than that, I feel healthy. I feel good. My body can do all the things that I need it to do, at the pace that I want it to. And then you’ve just got to hope that you catch things at the right time, and that you don’t have to play through things to get to the point where it is unbearable.

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