Penguins Need To Be Careful With Karlsson Talks

As of 4:47 p.m. on July 3rd, 2022, the Penguins remain in the battle to acquire the 2022-23 Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson. 

GM Kyle Dubas was a busy, busy man on July 1st when free agency opened, as he signed eight players, which is the most on the first day of free agency in franchise history. However, Dubas and the Pens don’t seem to be done yet, as they’re in a battle with about three other teams for San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson. Those three other teams are believed to be the Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Seattle Kraken, per TSN’s Pierre LeBrun. 

Last year, Karlsson put up 25 goals and 101 points in 82 games, becoming the first defenseman in over 30 years to hit 100 points. Getting him would massively help the Penguins get back into the top 10 in scoring. However, the Penguins can’t be too costly in what they give up for him. 

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli has mentioned that the Sharks are interested in Pens defenseman Jeff Petry. Petry started showing his age last year while on the second pairing for the Pens. His $6.25 million cap hit would be great for the Pens to get rid of and would make sense for the Pens to get for Karlsson, as his cap hit is approximately $11.5 million, and Petry is also a right-shot defenseman, like Karlsson.

However, rumors started popping up lately that the Penguins could also possibly send defenseman Marcus Pettersson to San Jose, which would not be smart for the Penguins to do. 

Dubas put most of his free agent eggs into the defensive basket on July 1st. He signed forwards Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, Matt Nieto, and defenseman Ryan Graves. Eller, Acciari, and Nieto were all signed to help the Penguins not blow leads like they did last season. All three of them are solid defensive forwards who are all types of players you want playing in the final minutes of games while holding the lead. Whereas defenseman Ryan Graves is a solid defensive defenseman who is an upgrade of defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who signed with the Kraken on July 1st. 

Moving Pettersson for Karlsson would ruin the solid left side that Dubas has made for the Penguins. Without Pettersson, Pierre-Olivier Joseph would have to step up into a top 4 role on the Pens’ back end and would likely become the defenseman to play with Letang. I doubt Sully and Dubas would want the second-year defenseman to play with such an offensive defenseman like Karlsson. If they wanted that to happen, they wouldn’t have signed Graves to play with Letang. 

Karlsson would be a great player to help bolster this Pens offense, but losing someone like Pettersson for him could cause as much hurt to the Pens as the help that Karlsson would bring.