Golden Knights face Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson days after near trade

The easiest way to explain the significance of Erik Karlsson’s visit to T-Mobile Arena on Friday is to put it in internet dating terms.

Essentially, the Golden Knights “swiped right” on the Ottawa Senators all-star defenseman prior to the NHL trade deadline Monday, but they never went on a date.

And now, a few days later, they’re going to be at the same party.

Awkward.

“Me personally, I think it was much bigger outside than it was inside. Usually, that’s how it is,” Senators coach Guy Boucher said Thursday. “We haven’t seen him drift. He’s been extremely professional about everything, and I’m sure it must have been difficult.

“But to be honest with you, from the inside, we didn’t feel any of it. It wasn’t something that was really inside the group. I wouldn’t say there’s no distraction, because there are, but we didn’t see it in our room. We didn’t feel it in our everyday actions at all.”

Had it been a Canadian city — and not an expansion team — that tried to pry the two-time Norris Trophy winner from the Senators, Friday’s game might have come with a few more distractions.

Instead, the courting of Karlsson serves as a fun subplot when the Knights (41-17-5, 87 points) host Ottawa (21-31-10, 52 points) at 7 p.m. hoping to end a two-game losing skid.

“I’m sure maybe he’s thought about it a little bit, but I know I haven’t, and I don’t think anyone else in here has,” Senators forward Matt Duchene said. “Karl handled the whole thing really well. Obviously, I’m a guy who’s been through what we just went through a few times.

“You never know what’s going to happen in this business. All you can do is come here every day, work your hardest and be there for your teammates, and that’s what he’s been doing.”

Knights general manager George McPhee was aggressive in his pursuit of Karlsson, 27, prior to Monday’s noon (PT) deadline.

While reports vary of how close the two sides were on a deal, the Knights were prepared to offer two first-rounders, a high-level prospect (likely either Cody Glass or Nick Suzuki) and a conditional pick for Karlsson, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Senators GM Pierre Dorion reportedly was seeking five to six pieces in return for Karlsson.

When McPhee was unable to get a deal done for Karlsson, he turned to Plan B and traded for Detroit wing Tomas Tatar.

Karlsson, who did not make himself available to the media after Thursday’s practice, is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2019.

The Knights and other teams are expected to continue trade talks about Karlsson leading into the June draft.

The fans at T-Mobile get their only look at the skilled Swede on Friday. Karlsson has six goals and 38 assists for the disappointing Senators, who are 29th out of 31 teams after reaching the Eastern Conference finals last season.

“He’s really good offensively. Just a great skater, has a great hockey IQ,” said Tatar, who faced Karlsson often as a member of the Red Wings. “You have to be aware where he is on the ice while you’re on the ice. He’s just a good player. Obviously, you want to put him as much as you can in the (defensive) zone, but great player for sure.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.