The Norris Trophy winner last season as the NHL’s top defenseman, Karlsson was cut by Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke’s skate as the two tangled along the boards in Wednesday night’s game.

Senators GM Bryan Murray said Karlsson had surgery to repair 70 percent of his Achilles. Murray also said recovery time is three to four months, meaning the earliest Karlsson could return is in May. If he were to return in May, he would have a chance to play if the Senators were still alive in the playoffs.

“Erik Karlsson’s season is effectively over,” Murray said.

Karlsson leads NHL defensemen with six goals, scoring three times in his previous four games. He had a short-handed goal to help the Senators beat Buffalo 2-0 on Tuesday night.

The loss of Karlsson is a big one to Ottawa, which already is without star forward Jason Spezza. He is out after having back surgery for a herniated disc.

“It’s a tough blow,” Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. “Obviously, the way he’s playing, and how much he means to our team, it feels terrible and I feel really bad for him.”

Karlsson immediately fell to the ice and was in visible pain. He needed help getting back to the bench and showed frustration, throwing his stick against the boards before disappearing down the runway.

“You knew right away there was an issue,” Senators goalie Craig Anderson said. “He’s a player who is irreplaceable. It’s unfortunate, but there are no words that can explain what we’re feeling.”

Cooke has been suspended several times for hits, some of them involving head shots that injured opposing players. In 2011, Cooke was suspended for the Penguins’ final 10 regular-season games and the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after jabbing an elbow to the head of New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh.

“We all know who’s involved in it,” Senators coach Paul MacLean said. “That’s just the way it is. The injury to Erik was unfortunate, and it happens on a nothing play that could’ve potentially been whistled down.”

The NHL, however, said there will be no hearing or any supplemental discipline for Cooke in the wake of Karlsson’s injury.

“I feel horrible for Erik Karlsson, I feel bad for Ottawa,” Penguins general manager Ray Shero told ESPN.com Thursday. “It’s a bad feeling. But I can’t rationalize where that was a dirty play or anything with intent. Our fan base knows how it feels to lose a star player. It’s emotional. I know how it feels like. It’s just very unfortunate. I would not be defending Matt Cooke if I thought it was a dirty hockey play.”

The NHL’s department of player safety reviewed the incident and NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan spoke with general managers for both the Senators and Penguins, but there is nothing coming Cooke’s way. The league doesn’t view the play as illegal or malicious.

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The 37-year-old former England captain joined PSG after turning down several other offers and pledging to effectively play for free. He was presented Thursday at the French club’s Parc des Princes stadium after passing his physical.

No financial details were given as to how much Beckham’s salary would be or the name of the charity. Beckham said the decision was taken early Thursday morning.

“It’s something I’m excited about and now it has finally happened,” Beckham said during the news conference Thursday. “I am very lucky because I got more offers than I have probably had in my career, at my age. I chose Paris because I can see what the club are trying to do. Now there is a club that is going to have a lot of success over the next 10, 15, 20 years. To be part of something with this growth is exciting to me.”

Of his five-month contract, Beckham said he wants to help the club “grow” regardless of the length of his stay.

“I don’t expect to come into this team and play in every single game. I don’t expect to start. I have to work for that,” he said. “It is a bonus they are in the Champions League. I’ve been lucky to win it in the past and I know how important it is for clubs.”

Beckham said he was not sure when he would make his debut with the club.

“I don’t’ know. This literally all happened at 1 a.m. this morning and it was only finalized at 11 a.m. this morning,” he said. “I’ve been training at Arsenal so it won’t take me long to get up to speed. I definitely won’t be ready next Friday but in a few weeks. No matter what my age, I still feel 21 most days.”

The Qatari-owned Ligue 1 club has been the highest-spending club in Europe in the past year. Beckham said he will donate a “huge sum” of his salary to a children’s charity in Paris.

On his Facebook page, Beckham posted a photo of himself with the comment: “On way to Paris, excited. I will update you all later.”

The 37-year-old former Manchester United star had been considering offers from clubs around the world after leaving the Los Angeles Galaxy in December to end a six-year stint in Major League Soccer.

PSG is in the Champions League knockout stage, which gives Beckham the prospect of winning a league title in a fourth country. The club faces Valencia on Feb. 12 and March 6.

Beckham joins a roster of international stars accumulated by PSG over the past two years, since the Qatari investment company bought a majority share in the club in May 2011.

The team includes Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (who leads Ligue 1 with 19 goals), Brazil’s Thiago Silva and Lucas, and Argentina’s Ezequiel Lavezzi. Those four were bought last summer for a total of $140 million.

PSG currently leads French Ligue 1, in search of the club’s first league title in 19 years.

MLS Before & After Beckham
Numbers 2006 2012
Teams 12 19
Soccer stadiums 2 13
Avg salary $85,329 $179,166
Avg attendance 15,504 18,807<< >>MLS record
Source: ESPN Stats & Info

David Beckham skyrocketed to fame at Manchester United, where he debuted in 1992 at age 17. He won six Premier League titles, two FA Cup trophies and the 1999 Champions League as part of United’s famed treble-winning side.

In the summer of 2003, he transferred to Real Madrid for $41 million. After falling out of favor and failing to win a league title in his first three seasons, Beckham finished well, playing his way back into the starting lineup as Madrid won La Liga in 2007, clinching the title in Beckham’s final match.

In January of 2007, Beckham announced he was heading to Los Angeles. After signing a contract with a total value of $250 million, he and the Galaxy failed to make the playoffs his first two seasons. But they reached the MLS Cup in three of his last four years, winning titles by beating Houston in 2011 and 2012.

Forbes said Beckham earned $46 million from salary ($4 million with the LA Galaxy) and endorsements in 2012, ranking him 35th on the Forbes Celebrity 100 List as the world’s highest-earning soccer player.

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The league and union met separately with federal mediator Scot Beckenbaugh during a series of meetings that spanned the whole day Friday and late into the evening. They will continue that process Saturday morning.

It isn’t yet known if the league and union will meet face-to-face Saturday, the 112th day of the lockout. The sides have less than a week to reach a new collective bargaining agreement to save what would likely be a 48-game hockey season.

Few details emerged about the scope or subject matter of those meetings and whether progress was forged, although a source told ESPN that both sides expressed signs of flexibility to the mediator.

With exactly one week left until the league’s self-imposed deadline of Jan. 11 to reach a deal, the NHL and NHLPA have resorted to “shuttle mediation” since the fallout from the last time they met in person Wednesday night.

That negotiating session was marked by the NHLPA’s decision not to file a disclaimer of interest by the midnight deadline, although the hope that a new deal could be close abated Thursday morning after reports of tension between the sides.

The NHLPA was angered by the league’s attempt to change language in one area of the CBA, that which pertains to the penalization of teams that are found guilty of hiding hockey-related revenue.

That issue has since been resolved, a source informed ESPNNewYork.com, although the lack of trust between the sides seemed to resurface.

The NHLPA initiated a vote Thursday evening to provide again the union’s executive board with the authority to file a disclaimer of interest. The 48-hour voting window expires Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.

With no formal negotiations between the sides since midweek, nerves continue to fray with the season hanging in the balance.

All regular-season games already have been canceled through Jan. 14, and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has set Jan. 11 as the deadline to reach a new CBA and avoid the entire season being scrapped.

The sides have traded four proposals in the past week — two by each side — but none has gained enough traction. Getting an agreement on a pension plan likely would go a long way toward an agreement that would put hockey back on the ice.

NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr believed a plan for players-funded pension was established before talks blew up in early December. That apparently wasn’t the case, or the NHL has changed its offer regarding the pension in exchange for agreeing to other things the union wanted.

The salary-cap number for the second year of the deal — the 2013-14 season — hasn’t been agreed to, and it is another major point of contention. The league is pushing for a $60 million cap, while the union wants it to be $65 million with a floor of $44 million.

In return for the higher cap number players would be willing to forgo a cap on escrow.

Both sides seem content on the deal lasting for 10 years, but they have different opinions on whether an opt-out should be allowed to be exercised after seven years or eight.

The NHL proposed last Thursday that pension contributions come out of the players’ share of revenues, and $50 million of the league’s make-whole payment of $300 million will be allocated and set aside to fund potential underfunded liabilities of the plan at the end of the collective bargaining agreement.

Last month, the NHL agreed to raise its make-whole offer of deferred payments from $211 million to $300 million as part of a proposed package that required the union to agree on three nonnegotiable points. Instead, the union accepted the raise in funds, but then made counterproposals on the issues the league stated had no wiggle room.

“As you might expect, the differences between us relate to the core economic issues which don’t involve the share,” Fehr said of hockey-related revenue, which likely will be split 50-50.

The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

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