Six weeks after winning the Norris Trophy for the third time, Erik Karlsson got his wish when the San Jose Sharks traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins in August. Karlsson, who last season became the first defenceman in 31 years to record 100 points, will combine with Kris Letang to form a dynamic one-two punch on the blue line.
“Every time you have a chance to bring in a guy of that calibre, especially with what he accomplished last year, it’s incredible,” Letang told reporters at the start of training camp.
This is not the first time Karlsson has teamed up with another puck-dominant defenceman. For four seasons, Karlsson shared back-end responsibilities with Brent Burns, which did not deliver the desired results. Without Burns, whom the Sharks traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in July 2022, Karlsson ran the show offensively.
Karlsson now joins Letang, who has held that job in Pittsburgh throughout the Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin era. The 2022-23 Masterton Trophy recipient put up impressive numbers in the face of significant hardship, averaging 4.57 offence-generating plays (OGP) per 20 minutes — 16th out of 289 defencemen who played a minimum of 100 minutes last season. Pittsburgh generated 1.36 expected goals per 20 when Letang was on the ice, tied for the third-best mark among qualified defencemen.
It will interesting to see how Penguins coach Mike Sullivan will deploy Karlsson and Letang, who finished fifth and 10th, respectively, among defencemen in ice time per game last season. The expectation is that Karlsson will partner with Marcus Pettersson, while Letang will skate with newcomer Ryan Graves.
The skater who stands to benefit most from Karlsson’s arrival is Malkin. Sullivan has tended to play Letang with Crosby, putting them on the ice for 689:02 at even strength last season. Malkin, meanwhile, was on the ice for 304:57 with Letang. Malkin’s top defensive teammate was Brian Dumoulin (363:15), who provided little offensive support.
“(Karlsson and Letang) help drive offence. They help sustain offence both off the rush and in the offensive zone,” Sullivan told reporters. “It gives (Crosby) and his line and (Malkin) and his line the best opportunity to do what they do best. … (Letang) gets a lot of time behind (Crosby’s) line, so to have two guys to be able to utilize in those situations is exciting for us as a coaching staff. There’s probably nobody more excited than (Malkin), because now we have two defencemen we can put behind those guys.”
On special teams, Sullivan revealed to ESPN last week that Karlsson and Letang will start on the same power-play unit. Letang has been the unquestioned quarterback on the No. 1 unit for years, a role that Karlsson is equally capable of playing. On Wednesday, Karlsson manned the point at practice, leaving Letang to work from the left flank. Letang’s one-timer can be a weapon from that spot; his 42 attempts on the power play last season were tied for eighth most at the position.
“(I’ve) been on top for 10, 12 years,” Letang told reporters. “I just need to get used to it and find a way to be effective there. You don’t touch the puck as much, and you have to be ready to make a play instead of trying to just bring people to you and distribute.”
In acquiring Karlsson and $10 million of his cap hit over the next four seasons, the Penguins are going all in to win another championship before Crosby, Malkin and Letang end their Hall of Fame-worthy careers. Fewer teams will be more fascinating to watch this season.
All numbers via Sportlogiq