2023-08-23 15:44:45
In some ways, the acquisition of Erik Karlsson by the Pittsburgh Penguins is reminiscent of his acquisition by the San Jose Sharks a few years earlier.
Posted at 11:44 a.m.
San Jose already had one of the best offensive right-handers in the National Hockey League, Brent Burns, on the strength of a 67-point season in 2017-18 when Karlsson arrived in California. Did they need two with a similar profile?
The Sharks were still a powerhouse during the trade. They were coming off a 100-point season, had reached the second round, having made the Stanley Cup Finals two years earlier. Other than Joe Thornton, the ages of the core members were between their late twenties and early thirties.
The team amassed one more point with Karlsson in 2018-2019 (he nevertheless missed 29 games) and reached the semi-finals. The fall was brutal thereafter: 29th, 26th, 22nd and 29th in the general classification.
Karlsson is coming off an extraordinary season at 33. He became the first defenseman since Brian Leetch in 1992 to break the 100-point mark. He won his third Norris Trophy of his career, despite his club’s failures and a -26 record, which can be attributed in part to the weakness of the Sharks.
The Penguins and their new president and general manager Kyle Dubas believe they have found the missing piece to aspire to the Stanley Cup again in 2024.
“Many are skeptical, but if they want to bet against Coach Mike Sullivan, against Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, they can do it, but I will bet on them”, Dubas told the NHL site. com Wednesday.
Like the Sharks, Pittsburgh already has one of the best right-handed defensemen in the National Hockey League, Letang. But unlike San Jose five years ago, the Penguins are in decline. They missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and haven’t made it past the first round in five years.
Despite a very good season on his part, the legendary Penguins trio is not getting any younger. Crosby and Letang are now 36, Malkin 37. You don’t win Stanley Cups with leaders 35 or older.
If Pittsburgh achieves this in 2024, it would be the first to do so in recent history and the script will have to be sent to Hollywood when the actors’ strike ends.
Should we therefore decry this exchange? Not necessarily. It is legitimate to want to offer the greatest player in the history of this team since Mario Lemieux a last chance to win a championship.
Dubas didn’t pay an exorbitant price either: first-round picks in 2024 and second-round picks in 2025. We managed to stick to the payroll despite Karlsson’s huge salary by dropping Jeff Petry, Mikael Granlund, Jan Rutta and Casey DeSmith in the aftermath of the transaction. We must praise the creativity and the audacity of Dubas.
But is Karlsson responding to a crying need? The Penguins finished 14th in power play last year with a very respectable 21.7 percent. The leaders in this chapter, the Edmonton Oilers, soared the competition with a success rate of 32%, six points more than the second-place holders, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Maybe Karlsson will help Pittsburgh win a few more games with timely power play goals, but he will replace Kris Letang, who is already very good in such circumstances, on the first wave.
Despite the presence of offensive stars, Pittsburgh can score advantage. The team finished 16th in this regard. But the club is 19th in goals against and 16th in shorthandedness. Karlsson will not come to settle this aspect of the game.
The Penguins lost Brian Dumoulin to the Seattle Kraken this summer. Dumoulin had been Letang’s faithful partner for eight years. Even if he played more than 20 minutes per game, Dumoulin was however only a shadow of himself since a serious ankle injury suffered a few seasons ago.
He is replaced by Ryan Graves, 28, obtained on the free agent market for six years, for 27 million. Graves was a strong second pair in New Jersey with former Penguins John Marino, and the two helped make the Devils one of the most effective shorthanded teams. Graves, 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, fills a gap at the Penguins.
Dubas has also secured an effective winger for one of his offensive lines, Reilly Smith, fresh off Vegas glory. Smith, 32, is coming off a 26-goal, 56-point season. He was acquired for a third-round pick in 2024. He will replace Jason Zucker in the lineup, now with the Arizona Coyotes. Zucker scored 27 goals last year.
Finally, Lars Eller will fill a void in the center of the third line. Eller, 34, signed a reasonable contract of 2.4 million per season for two years.
In short, Dubas’ acquisitions are interesting. Hopefully the Penguins can take advantage of that because post-Crosby will be brutal.
With a club this old and only three first-round picks in the last nine vintages, four second-round picks already traded or retired early, no first- and third-round picks in 2024 and no second-round picks in 2025 , the stars will be difficult to replace in Pittsburgh…
Elias Pettersson hesitates…
PHOTO DARRYL DYCK, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Elias Pettersson
The Vancouver Canucks hold their breath. Contract negotiations with their number one center, Elias Pettersson, 24, 102 points last year, are not progressing.
Pettersson will be in the last year of his contract this winter. He will then become a restricted free agent, with the right to arbitration, but he still does not know if he wants to commit long term with the Canucks.
“I put a break on the negotiations, he confided this week from Stockholm during the NHL’s European media tour. I have a year left. I want to focus on my summer training and the next season. I don’t have an answer myself (on the duration of the next contract). »
Vancouver has made the playoffs just once in eight years and has changed coaches three times since 2017. Pettersson is understandably hesitant.
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