Kingerski: It’s Time to Trade Erik Karlsson

Erik Karlsson can be a brilliant hockey player capable of things that rival current superstar defensemen Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar. Lest you forgot just what Karlsson’s best looks like, his play at the Four Nations Face-Off tournament was as impressive as it was crystallizing.

With a wry smile, almost a wink, Karlsson told Pittsburgh Hockey Now Friday, “I can still bring it when I need to.”

Well, here’s the rub. The Penguins have been swimming upstream for months, trying to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They played shorthanded without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin before the break, and the Bat Signal has been in the sky for all players to bring their best to get back into the playoff race since November.

In the first game out of the break against the Washington Capitals, Karlsson had a couple of moments of being involved in the offensive play. He also turned the puck over at the offensive blue line early in the first period, visibly did not scramble back to the defensive zone, and the resulting sequence was a quick Washington goal despite the Penguins’ superior play to that point. Then his push in the offensive game faded.

Where’s Karlsson’s best? Where’s the guy who flashed that three-time Norris Trophy form with Sweden?

It’s not like the Penguins’ situation doesn’t call for it.

The Penguins are currently on the brink of losing even a longshot chance. They trail the Ottawa Senators by seven points, and they would need to leapfrog seven teams. The Penguins have 23 games left, while Ottawa has 25. In other words, with just 46 possible points remaining, the Penguins have to pass seven teams by accumulating the equivalent of four MORE wins in the final 23.

If any of several teams near the top of the pack were to achieve the very doable 30 or 32 points in their final 24 or 25 games, that means the Penguins can lose only eight more points–four games–the rest of the season. In fact, the Penguins are only four points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres for last place in the Eastern Conference.

So, the time that Karlsson needed to bring it has come and gone.

It surely seems there is a disconnect between Karlsson and Penguins coaches or scheme. Coach Mike Sullivan has publicly stated Karlsson can give more–within the bounds of responsibility, of course.

After his eye-opening performance at the Four Nations tournament, we asked Sullivan if Karlsson is aggressive enough with the Penguins.

“For me, aggressive is probably the wrong word. We want him to take what the game gives him. We want him to drive offense, but he’s got to do it the right way,” said Sullivan. “He also has to defend because it’s hard to win if you don’t. You know, when Karl plays a spirited game, and he competes on both sides of the puck, he’s a difference-maker.”

So, Karlsson can bring it. The Penguins need it. Coaches want it. Yet an incongruence remains.

Sorry, the time is up to solve it. And quite frankly, it no longer matters.

After nearly two full seasons, general manager Kyle Dubas’s signature acquisition has been, at best, a draw. For whatever reason–and you can insert many–the high-profile Karlsson-Penguins relationship has been only slightly less disappointing than any of Pete Davidson’s attempts.

The Penguins can’t give Karlsson what he feels like he needs, and Karlsson isn’t giving the Penguins what they need. So, it’s like a real marriage (I kid, I kid).

It’s time to trade Karlsson.

He came to Pittsburgh to chase a Stanley Cup. At nearly 35 years old, he has few chances left. Free the defender to a team that can give him the freedom or incentive to be the player who wowed everyone at Four Nations. There must be a team that engages Karlsson and provides him with the confidence or structure to play as his best version.

It’s hard to quantify exactly what the Penguins gave up to get him. They moved three contracts they had no desire to keep, as well as a first and second-round pick.

How much of the Penguins’ payment was to move Mikael Granlund, who tanked with the Penguins, Jan Rutta, who was superfluous, and Jeff Petry, who very quickly showed his age in Pittsburgh?

It’s undeniably true that Granlund was very good this season as a top-line player in San Jose, but Petry was very quickly a healthy scratch in Detroit last season and this.

So, the Penguins have invested somewhere between two high picks and … nothing. For Karlsson’s sake and their own, they should easily be able to recoup some portion of that.

Also, keep in mind that the Penguins have only one of three salary retention slots left. Ideally, they cannot eat salary, especially with onerous contracts dished to players like Tristan Jarry and Ryan Graves. Subsequent trades to move them at any point in the next two years will most likely cost the Penguins part of their salary.

So, Karlsson’s $10 million cap hit will have to stand, which should be a little easier to swallow given the salary cap spikes in each of the next two seasons (Karlsson’s contract only runs for two more years). The cap will go up by $7.5 million this summer and $8.5 million next summer.

Make no mistake, Karlsson is a great player and one of the most interesting humans to have ever rolled through the Penguins’ locker room, certainly in my time. Believe me, he would be at the top of your dinner party list.

And he should be at the top of the heap when discussing NHL defensemen.

But not everything that should work does.

The trade deadline is March 7. A wide-open Stanley Cup playoff bracket awaits an aggressive team. So, the Penguins should make every effort to free up that salary cap space and take another step toward the next era. Perhaps even spend the untethered capital on a free agent who could accelerate the retooling.

It’s time to trade Erik Karlsson.