Penguins' acquisition of Karlsson gives Metro Division another jolt

The addition of Karlsson raises the floor and ceiling for the Penguins, pushing them back into relevancy as a team to be taken seriously.

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Kyle Dubas completed his first major surgery since taking over the Pittsburgh Penguins and, boy, was it a success.

He orchestrated a three team trade that saw the Penguins part with Mikael Granlund, Jeff Petry, Jan Rutta, Casey DeSmith and a couple of draft picks – most notably a top-10 protected 1st rounder in 2024 – in exchange for Erik Karlsson, Rem Pitlick, Dillon Hamaliuk, and San Jose’s 3rd rounder in 2026.

Essentially, the Penguins paid only a protected 1st and a 2nd (while getting a 3rd back) in exchange for removing several toxic contracts from their books, clearing millions of dollars in cap space, and landing a high-end top pairing defenseman in Karlsson.

I’ve seen plenty of jabs about Karlsson’s age and how the Penguins added another player on the wrong side of 30.

While that may be true, every piece the Penguins traded is 30+ and Karlsson is 2.5 years younger than the right-handed defenseman he is replacing (Petry). He also very much remains a star player in the league.

Not an OK player. Not a once great player who is still useful. A star.

Karlsson just put together a Norris winning campaign in which he produced 25 goals, and 100 points, on a team with little surrounding talent.

He is a fantastic puck-moving defenseman who is as dangerous as anybody – save for maybe Cale Makar – with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone.

He gives the Pens another lethal weapon on the power play, a fantastic transition option to help get the puck out of the defensive zone and up to the marquee forwards on the roster, and a reliable defenseman who can log significant minutes each and every night.

I understand Karlsson is 33 and on the back nine of his career. That doesn’t mean he’s not a legitimately great player or will become useless overnight. I mean, the guy produced 100 points last year while ranking fourth among all defensemen in GAR.

That’s what happens when you create a ton of offense, drive play, and finish with an even goal differential despite playing otherworldly minutes on a team that was outscored by 52 at 5v5.

Karlsson is clearly still a high-impact, needle-moving defenseman who will drastically improve the Penguins.

The Penguins didn’t just get better by adding a player of Karlsson’s caliber, although that in itself is a coup. There was definitely some addition by subtraction as well.