from Matt Larkin of The Daily Faceoff,

Plenty of crucial dominoes have yet to fall so far this offseason – including one that has nothing to do with the salary cap. What are the top unresolved storylines as we drift into late July? Consider these 10.

The Erik Karlsson trade

The San Jose Sharks will never have a better selling window for their $11.5 million defenseman than right now, when he’s fresh off a legendary season in which he won his third Norris Trophy, became the first blueliner in 31 years to reach 100 points and, just as importantly, played all 82 games. Karlsson, 33, has also publicly stressed his desire to get moved to a winning situation. The reporting at the moment continues to suggest the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes are the frontrunners to execute a Karlsson trade. To editorialize for a second: I don’t see the hockey fit. Do you need an right-shot, all-offense PP1 quarterback when you have Kris Letang and Brent Burns, respectively? But to each their own. If Sharks GM Mike Grier is willing to eat a significant enough chunk of Karlsson’s salary over the final four seasons of his deal, a trade still feels likely to happen before the 2023-24 campaign commences.

Patrice Bergeron’s and David Krejci’s retirement decisions

Earlier this offseason, the Bruins indicated they were proceeding as if their top two centers were retiring. We sure about that? So far, the Boston’s summer has consisted of (a) waiving goodbye to UFAs Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway and more; (b) trading Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno in a salary-dump move; (c) signing defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, left wingers James van Riemsdyk and Milan Lucic and center Morgan Geekie. Given Geekie projects to fill a bottom-six role, it’s clear the Bruins are doing the opposite of moving on from Bergeron and Krejci. The Bruins are holding their breath, waiting on the decisions to return or retire. If Bergeron and Krejci choose the latter, the Bruins will have a crater up the middle. It would necessitate a trade to fill it. Otherwise, the likes of Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle will play much higher in the lineup than they have in the past, and the Bruins’ lineup depth will be badly depleted entering 2023-24.

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