Erik Karlsson, the defending Norris Trophy-winning defenseman, is a Pittsburgh Penguin.
The Penguins on Sunday acquired Karlsson in a complicated, three-team trade with the Sharks and Canadiens.
In addition to Karlsson, the Penguins acquired depth forward Rem Pitlick, minor-league forward Dillon Hamaliuk, and the Sharks' 2026 third-round pick. The Penguins sent a 2024 first-round pick, Mikael Granlund, and Jan Rutta to the Sharks, with the first-round pick being top-10 protected. That means that if the Penguins' pick falls within the first 10 picks of next summer's draft, they have the option to defer to 2025. The Penguins also sent a 2025 second-round pick, Jeff Petry, Casey DeSmith, and forward prospect Nathan Legare to the Canadiens. Montreal traded forward Mike Hoffman to San Jose to complete the trade.
The Sharks retained $1.5 million of Karlsson's $11.5 million cap hit for the remaining four years of his contract, and the Penguins retained $1,562,500 of Petry's cap hit for the remaining two years of his contract.
Pitlick, 26, split last season between Montreal and the AHL's Laval Rocket. He scored six goals and nine assists in 46 NHL games, and five goals and 17 assists in 18 AHL games. He has a year left on his contract that carries a $1.1 million cap hit. He's a left-handed shot listed at 5 foot 11 and 196 pounds.
Hamaliuk, 22, was originally a 2019 second-round pick of the Sharks, and brings some significant size at 6 foot 4 and 201 pounds. He was limited to just six ECHL games last season with the Wichita Thunder, and scored four goals and three assists in those games. He spent his first pro season in 2021-22 with the AHL's San Jose Barracuda and scored three goals and six assists in 44 games. He's entering the last year of his entry-level deal that carries a $789,167 cap hit at the NHL level.
Karlsson, 33, will carry a $10 million cap hit with the Penguins over the next four years, and has a full no-movement clause that follows him to Pittsburgh. He's coming off of a 101-point (25 goals, 76 assists) season through 82 games. The Norris Trophy he won as the league's top defenseman was his third, having previously won in 2012 and 2015.
The end result is a projected roster of 13 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders when healthy, a group that carries an $82.8 million cap hit per PuckPedia. That's just under $700,000 below the salary cap limit. They could line up something like this:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Drew O'Connor - Lars Eller - Noel Acciari
Matt Nieto - Jeff Carter - Rem Pitlick
Vinnie Hinostroza
Ryan Graves - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Erik Karlsson
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
Tristan Jarry
Alex Nedeljkovic
Man, and what about the power play? Karlsson and Letang each quarterbacking a unit? Wow.
That's a heck of a lot better than the way things were when Kyle Dubas initially took over earlier in the offseason, and he managed to make those improvements while unloading some problematic contracts and not giving up too much in terms of futures assets.
Aside from maybe Jeff Carter and his immovable, 35+ contract that carries a full no-movement clause, the contracts of Granlund (two years left at $5 million per year) and Petry (two years left at $6.25 million per year) looked to be the toughest to move. Both players were overpaid given their roles, and Petry's 15-team no-trade list was limiting. The Penguins' buyout window would close after the weekend, and it looked like they might have to use a buyout as a last resort to free up some of that cap space needed to pull off a Karlsson deal. Dubas managed to find takers for both, and unloaded additional salary by way of Rutta and his $2.75 million cap hit. Swapping Rutta for Chad Ruhwedel's $800,000 cap hit on the third pairing is a trade-off that is well worth it, given the savings.
And what did it cost? That first-round pick going to San Jose next year is the biggest piece the Penguins gave up, but if the goal is to win now, that's a move that has to be made. The Penguins' window to win with this current core is small, and by the time that 2024 first-round pick is ready to reach the NHL (if he even makes it at all), it's possible that the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin or Kris Letang could be gone. Karlsson gives the Penguins the better chance to win now.
The Penguins' top prospects like defenseman Owen Pickering, forward Brayden Yager, and goaltenders Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov, plus a young NHL defenseman like P.O Joseph, didn't need to be included in the deal. The future didn't need to be mortgaged entirely.
The only prospect going out, Legare, just never worked out with the Penguins. Originally a third-round pick in 2019, Legare was just never able to find much success in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the last two years, and it led to him being a frequent healthy scratch in the AHL late last season. In going the Canadiens (more likely, the AHL's Laval Rocket), Legare gets to play for his childhood team and gets a fresh start.
Alex Nedeljkovic very well may be a slight downgrade from DeSmith, but he's also more affordable, too. And even in moving out DeSmith, the Penguins' goaltending depth remains strong, with five NHL-contracted goaltenders (plus a sixth on an AHL contract) set to play throughout the system next season. DeSmith, who grew up a massive Canadiens fan because that's his family's team, even gets to go play for his childhood team too.
Does anyone lose here?
The Penguins got better -- even younger -- while hanging onto their most important assets for the future.
When Dubas took over as president of hockey operations in June, he called the task ahead of him a "two-pronged effort."
"In the short run, it's continuing to make decisions that are going to allow the team to be competitive, while the core group of players that have led the team through championships in the past continue to perform at the levels that they have for as long as they can and make decisions that will support them in lineup every night," Dubas said at the time. "That will allow the team to contend with each season while those players are with us. At the same time, the work will also begin at delivering a long-term hockey organization that can be the class of the NHL."
In executing the blockbuster Karlsson trade, Dubas managed to do just that.
