If the NHL had a Comeback Player of the Year award, Erik Karlsson wouldn’t just win it, he’d force the league to rename the trophy in his honour. In fact, calling what Karlsson is doing this season a comeback is like saying Tom Brady played quarterback at a high level longer than you’d expect. 

Just slightly underselling things there. 

Karlsson has 73 points with nearly 30 games left in his season. Only 10 defencemen in the past 20 years have posted 73 points or more in a full season. Karlsson’s 54 even-strength points give him a five-point lead over right winger Matthew Tkachuk for tops in the league. The next defencemen on the list are Josh Morrissey and Adam Fox, who are tied for 42nd.  

The two defencemen most associated with outrageous offence are Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey. At his current clip, Karlsson will push into that club and become just the third D-man ever to register 105 points in a season. Only three other D-men  — Al MacInnis, Brian Leetch and Denis Potvin — have hit the century mark.  

What’s he’s doing this season would be remarkable under any circumstances. But the fact it comes in his age-32 season on a rebuilding team when it felt like the ship had sailed on him being a game-changing player makes it all the more incredible. This is Year 5 for Karlsson in San Jose and his tenure there has been defined by extended injury-induced absences and the fact the club has basically been in steady decline with an aging roster full of bloated contracts. 

Ah, yes, contracts. Even with all he’s done this season, the number we often hear first about in any conversation about Karlsson is his $11.5-million cap hit that’s on the books for four more seasons. It’s a monster number, especially for a guy who has not been the best health bet. 

Then again, the way he’s playing, you know teams are wondering just what it would take to get him and have likely locked their capologist in a room with instructions to stay there until he or she figures out the math to squeeze him under the cap.