Karlsson to PIT

[Three Stars]

There’s a lot of “what happens if Karlsson regresses to only a 70 point player?” out there.

You know what would happen? We’d be thrilled. How many 70 point defensemen do we have otherwise? Mayyyybe one?

Phil Kessel’s first regular season here was very much not a success, with only 59 points in 82 games. Anybody want to complain about the end result?

To be fair, Karlsson had not scored more than 45 points in his previous four seasons prior to this past one. He also has battled so many injuries. This is not a risk free acquisition.

One of those seasons was only 50-something games long, but point taken.

[Three Stars]

Wyshynski reported that Mike Grier said that there were two teams in it until the end. The other team has not been revealed.

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Grier on how the $1.5 million (13 percent) retention number was reached: "We had kind of all sorts of teams offer up scenarios on the retention number. We wanted to get as low as possible obviously." #SJSharks 

It is something of a surprise that the retention was only 1.5 million, but it makes sense given that it was the retention that was San Jose’s key point. Dubas likely came back with “ok, we’ll do it, but you have to help get salary off of our books”. Fortunately…ahem…the Pens had some overpaid but relatively short term deals on their books.

[dark_forces]

There’s a lot of “what happens if Karlsson regresses to only a 70 point player?” out there.

You know what would happen? We’d be thrilled. How many 70 point defensemen do we have otherwise? Mayyyybe one?

Phil Kessel’s first regular season here was very much not a success, with only 59 points in 82 games. Anybody want to complain about the end result?

To be fair, Karlsson had not scored more than 45 points in his previous four seasons prior to this past one. He also has battled so many injuries. This is not a risk free acquisition.

That's a reasonable outlook, but I would say, barring any type of serious injury, I would pencil him in for 70+ points. I figure a large chunk will be PP points, which should become the real strength of this team and help prevent other teams from taking too many liberties.

[KG]

I read that the Pens paid Petry's $3mill bonus which helped get Montreal to accept the trade.

One of the benefits of having rich owners. Actual cash paid out, doesn't change the cap hit.

Great move.

[thehockeyguru]

I'm curious to see what PP1 looks like.

[FLPensFan]

I'm curious to see what PP1 looks like.

They will never do it. I repeat...they will never do it....but they should seriously consider breaking up Sid and Geno, and Karlsson and Letang. Maybe not to start the season with Guetnzel out, but when fully healthy:

Crosby-Guentzel-Rust-Karlsson-Pettersson
Malkin-Smith-Rakell-Letang-Graves

Instead of overloading one unit so all they do is make 85 passes and zero shots, spread it out. Put a defensemen like MP/Graves out on the unit to prevent the high amount of short-handed chances this team has given up. Go with the hot unit. If the 2nd unit is clicking, give them PP1 duties and first shot, and vice versa. You also keep your first and 2nd lines out there together, and don't need to generate a "mish-mash" line to put out there post power play.

This would make soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much sense that it unfathomable that Sullivan would actually do this.

[dark_forces]

I'm curious to see what PP1 looks like.

They will never do it. I repeat...they will never do it....but they should seriously consider breaking up Sid and Geno, and Karlsson and Letang. Maybe not to start the season with Guetnzel out, but when fully healthy:

Crosby-Guentzel-Rust-Karlsson-Pettersson
Malkin-Smith-Rakell-Letang-Graves

Instead of overloading one unit so all they do is make 85 passes and zero shots, spread it out. Put a defensemen like MP/Graves out on the unit to prevent the high amount of short-handed chances this team has given up. Go with the hot unit. If the 2nd unit is clicking, give them PP1 duties and first shot, and vice versa. You also keep your first and 2nd lines out there together, and don't need to generate a "mish-mash" line to put out there post power play.

This would make soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much sense that it unfathomable that Sullivan would actually do this.

I'm on board with this strategy. It gives opposing teams more to think about, including splitting up PK duties among their regular units/pairings.

[brwi]

Wyshynski reported that Mike Grier said that there were two teams in it until the end. The other team has not been revealed.

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Grier on how the $1.5 million (13 percent) retention number was reached: "We had kind of all sorts of teams offer up scenarios on the retention number. We wanted to get as low as possible obviously." #SJSharks 

It was Carolina and Pittsburgh for the last several weeks, at least that was Friedman's reporting a few times and he's pretty much as close to 100% accurate as it gets, unlike the usual clowns.

[Dynasty1970]

There’s a lot of “what happens if Karlsson regresses to only a 70 point player?” out there.

You know what would happen? We’d be thrilled. How many 70 point defensemen do we have otherwise? Mayyyybe one?

Phil Kessel’s first regular season here was very much not a success, with only 59 points in 82 games. Anybody want to complain about the end result?

To be fair, Karlsson had not scored more than 45 points in his previous four seasons prior to this past one. He also has battled so many injuries. This is not a risk free acquisition.

Don’t forget the COVID shortened seasons also had a big part in those point totals.

[FLPensFan]

I'm curious to see what PP1 looks like.

They will never do it. I repeat...they will never do it....but they should seriously consider breaking up Sid and Geno, and Karlsson and Letang. Maybe not to start the season with Guetnzel out, but when fully healthy:

Crosby-Guentzel-Rust-Karlsson-Pettersson
Malkin-Smith-Rakell-Letang-Graves

Instead of overloading one unit so all they do is make 85 passes and zero shots, spread it out. Put a defensemen like MP/Graves out on the unit to prevent the high amount of short-handed chances this team has given up. Go with the hot unit. If the 2nd unit is clicking, give them PP1 duties and first shot, and vice versa. You also keep your first and 2nd lines out there together, and don't need to generate a "mish-mash" line to put out there post power play.

This would make soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much sense that it unfathomable that Sullivan would actually do this.

I'm on board with this strategy. It gives opposing teams more to think about, including splitting up PK duties among their regular units/pairings.

The other comment I made is that, the Penguins don't have much in the way of traditional PK type defensemen. We didn't re-sign Dumo and we traded Petry and Rutta. Letang has never been a great PK defenseman. Karlsson is not a great PK defenseman, but typically better than Letang.

The Penguins may be wise to adopt a more aggressive diamond-formation PK. Anchor your Graves/Pettersson style d-man in front of the net area, use Letang/Karlsson and a forward to cover the circles, and a high forward covering the points.

Gotta make the best use of what they have.

[Three Stars]

I'm curious to see what PP1 looks like.

They will never do it. I repeat...they will never do it....but they should seriously consider breaking up Sid and Geno, and Karlsson and Letang. Maybe not to start the season with Guetnzel out, but when fully healthy:

Crosby-Guentzel-Rust-Karlsson-Pettersson
Malkin-Smith-Rakell-Letang-Graves

Instead of overloading one unit so all they do is make 85 passes and zero shots, spread it out. Put a defensemen like MP/Graves out on the unit to prevent the high amount of short-handed chances this team has given up. Go with the hot unit. If the 2nd unit is clicking, give them PP1 duties and first shot, and vice versa. You also keep your first and 2nd lines out there together, and don't need to generate a "mish-mash" line to put out there post power play.

This would make soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much sense that it unfathomable that Sullivan would actually do this.

Nah. When you have a power play quarterback like EK, you don’t reduce his options for the sake of balance. The point is to fix PP1 so it’s an actual reliable threat. Worrying about PP2 is what you do when PP1 isn’t a threat.

EK can find Crosby for deflections and tap-ins. He can feed the mighty Malkin one-timer. He can pass to Guentzel in the slot. He can even find whatever other lucky bastard is out there. Or he can do it all himself. The other team will get fewer shorthanded chances when PP1 is not a tire fire strategically. Karlsson is one of the greatest power play quarterbacks on any list you care to collate.

Pettersson and Graves don’t belong near PP1, not to mention PP2…they’re here for defense and a sprinkling of offense, not the other way around. Rust has PP2 written all over him.

The real enhancement of PP2 is putting Letang on it and giving him 4 willing stick targets.

There is such a thing as cutting off your nose to spite your face. There’s also such a thing as robbing Peter to pay Paul. That’s what diluting your first power play for “balance” gets you.

[FLPensFan]

I'm curious to see what PP1 looks like.

They will never do it. I repeat...they will never do it....but they should seriously consider breaking up Sid and Geno, and Karlsson and Letang. Maybe not to start the season with Guetnzel out, but when fully healthy:

Crosby-Guentzel-Rust-Karlsson-Pettersson
Malkin-Smith-Rakell-Letang-Graves

Instead of overloading one unit so all they do is make 85 passes and zero shots, spread it out. Put a defensemen like MP/Graves out on the unit to prevent the high amount of short-handed chances this team has given up. Go with the hot unit. If the 2nd unit is clicking, give them PP1 duties and first shot, and vice versa. You also keep your first and 2nd lines out there together, and don't need to generate a "mish-mash" line to put out there post power play.

This would make soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much sense that it unfathomable that Sullivan would actually do this.

Nah. When you have a power play quarterback like EK, you don’t reduce his options for the sake of balance. The point is to fix PP1 so it’s an actual reliable threat. Worrying about PP2 is what you do when PP1 isn’t a threat.

EK can find Crosby for deflections and tap-ins. He can feed the mighty Malkin one-timer. He can pass to Guentzel in the slot. He can even find whatever other lucky bastard is out there. Or he can do it all himself. The other team will get fewer shorthanded chances when PP1 is not a tire fire strategically. Karlsson is one of the greatest power play quarterbacks on any list you care to collate.

Pettersson and Graves don’t belong near PP1, not to mention PP2…they’re here for defense and a sprinkling of offense, not the other way around. Rust has PP2 written all over him.

The real enhancement of PP2 is putting Letang on it and giving him 4 willing stick targets.

There is such a thing as cutting off your nose to spite your face. There’s also such a thing as robbing Peter to pay Paul. That’s what diluting your first power play for “balance” gets you.

Very true.

[pens_CT]

I'm curious to see what PP1 looks like.

They will never do it. I repeat...they will never do it....but they should seriously consider breaking up Sid and Geno, and Karlsson and Letang. Maybe not to start the season with Guetnzel out, but when fully healthy:

Crosby-Guentzel-Rust-Karlsson-Pettersson
Malkin-Smith-Rakell-Letang-Graves

Instead of overloading one unit so all they do is make 85 passes and zero shots, spread it out. Put a defensemen like MP/Graves out on the unit to prevent the high amount of short-handed chances this team has given up. Go with the hot unit. If the 2nd unit is clicking, give them PP1 duties and first shot, and vice versa. You also keep your first and 2nd lines out there together, and don't need to generate a "mish-mash" line to put out there post power play.

This would make soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much sense that it unfathomable that Sullivan would actually do this.

Nah. When you have a power play quarterback like EK, you don’t reduce his options for the sake of balance. The point is to fix PP1 so it’s an actual reliable threat. Worrying about PP2 is what you do when PP1 isn’t a threat.

EK can find Crosby for deflections and tap-ins. He can feed the mighty Malkin one-timer. He can pass to Guentzel in the slot. He can even find whatever other lucky bastard is out there. Or he can do it all himself. The other team will get fewer shorthanded chances when PP1 is not a tire fire strategically. Karlsson is one of the greatest power play quarterbacks on any list you care to collate.

Pettersson and Graves don’t belong near PP1, not to mention PP2…they’re here for defense and a sprinkling of offense, not the other way around. Rust has PP2 written all over him.

The real enhancement of PP2 is putting Letang on it and giving him 4 willing stick targets.

There is such a thing as cutting off your nose to spite your face. There’s also such a thing as robbing Peter to pay Paul. That’s what diluting your first power play for “balance” gets you.

Very true.

You also need to consider that for the first time since Gonchar left we have a guy running the PP who will rip the shot and will hit the net with it. That should open up other options on the PP.

[Dynasty1970]

Has anyone read or heard what Karlsson’s reaction to the trade was?

[brwi]

Even with a huge add in talent to the PP, I don't know if it will reach the heights it should as long as Reirden is running it.

[Caputi19]

I think with Jake out this will be poulins shot at top 6. Pens transition game definitely gets a huge upgrade

[FLPensFan]

Even with a huge add in talent to the PP, I don't know if it will reach the heights it should as long as Reirden is running it.

I haven't seen any reports of his reaction. I thought it was a bit odd that Dubas didn't have a press conference today. Maybe tomorrow, or maybe he will wait for Karlsson to come to town. Karlsson may still be in Sweden for the offseason. I know he had won a couple of Swedish sports awards over the summer.

There was an article in Expressen, a Swedish publication, that said he had been vacationing on the west coast of Sweden for two weeks but was due back in Ottawa on Tuesday (article was only July 22nd which puts him in Canada on July 25th). His wife is from Ottawa, so the article says their home is now Ottawa and they spend the summer offseason in Sweden.

These are the translated quotes regarding the Penguins:

Pittsburgh is reported to be first in line right now, have you talked to them?
- Yes I have. I've talked to some teams, Pittsburgh is one of them. I have played against them for many years and have a good grasp of that group of players that are there.

Is that the team's new general manager Kyle Dubas you spoke to then? Or Jason Spezza, who you played with in Ottawa?
- Me and Spezza have talked a lot, but we have been friends since before. There has been no business there. We also talked when he was in Toronto. It's more on a friendship level, I'd say. I've talked to the people I need to talk to in Pittsburgh and Dubas is of course one of them. It feels like I've tried to get as much information as I can from the teams that are interesting. How they look at me, what they want. I will try to make a decision based on the information I received. I want to make the best decision for me and my family, if this goes all the way.

There was also word from Pittsburgh media reports (can't recall where right now) that either Karlsson talked directly to Letang, or Dubas consulted Letang, and 58 has no issue conceding PP time to Karlsson.

[FLPensFan]

A couple of other random thoughts on Karlsson as the night closes down:

--The magnitude of this trade is still mind boggling. It sucks that it couldn't have happened a year or two earlier because as it stands right now, this trade is on the same level as Paul Coffey coming to Pittsburgh in the late 80s. Coffey was about 5 years younger at the time, and that team overall was in a better place to compete...but with the big clunky contracts of Petry, Granlund, Rutta and DeSmith all off the books, Carter gone next year, and many of the guys they've added this summer easily buried or tradeable, this season as well as next offseason can set us up for 2 last shots at the Cup.

--Karlsson has played in 920 games, meaning he'll play in his 1000 regular season game as a Penguin late this season or early next year.

--Karlsson is currently 21st overall in all-time defense scoring with 761 points. The only active defenseman above him is Brent Burns. If Karlsson can average at least 50 points (seems incredibly doable without a major injury) over his 4 years as a Penguin, he'll break into the top 10 passing Chelios (10th, 948 points) and Larry Robinson (9th, 958 points). 60 point average per season, and he'll break 1000 points and Leetch (8th 1028 points) and Potvin (7th 1052 points) could be in reach.

[Dynasty1970]

Even with a huge add in talent to the PP, I don't know if it will reach the heights it should as long as Reirden is running it.

I haven't seen any reports of his reaction. I thought it was a bit odd that Dubas didn't have a press conference today. Maybe tomorrow, or maybe he will wait for Karlsson to come to town. Karlsson may still be in Sweden for the offseason. I know he had won a couple of Swedish sports awards over the summer.

There was an article in Expressen, a Swedish publication, that said he had been vacationing on the west coast of Sweden for two weeks but was due back in Ottawa on Tuesday (article was only July 22nd which puts him in Canada on July 25th). His wife is from Ottawa, so the article says their home is now Ottawa and they spend the summer offseason in Sweden.

These are the translated quotes regarding the Penguins:

Pittsburgh is reported to be first in line right now, have you talked to them?
- Yes I have. I've talked to some teams, Pittsburgh is one of them. I have played against them for many years and have a good grasp of that group of players that are there.


Is that the team's new general manager Kyle Dubas you spoke to then? Or Jason Spezza, who you played with in Ottawa?
- Me and Spezza have talked a lot, but we have been friends since before. There has been no business there. We also talked when he was in Toronto. It's more on a friendship level, I'd say. I've talked to the people I need to talk to in Pittsburgh and Dubas is of course one of them. It feels like I've tried to get as much information as I can from the teams that are interesting. How they look at me, what they want. I will try to make a decision based on the information I received. I want to make the best decision for me and my family, if this goes all the way.

There was also word from Pittsburgh media reports (can't recall where right now) that either Karlsson talked directly to Letang, or Dubas consulted Letang, and 58 has no issue conceding PP time to Karlsson.

THANKS!

[FLPensFan]

Final post from me tonight. I'm trying to remember the last defenseman that had this type of shot from the blue line...probably Gonchar. He's got the puck handling ability of Letang and then some, but more importantly, he's got a wrister and slapper that can score from a distance.

Bonus edit: Can you imagine sending Crosby, Letang, and Karlsson over the board in a shootout? Or how much it means to be able to have Letang as the lone d-man in OT for one set of forwards, and Karlsson over the board for the next set? Scary.

Here's all his goals from last season:

[Three Stars]

Analysis:

Karlsson will either be the best or the worst player in Penguins history to wear the number 65.

[Take the Body Shoot the Puck]

Final post from me tonight. I'm trying to remember the last defenseman that had this type of shot from the blue line...probably Gonchar. He's got the puck handling ability of Letang and then some, but more importantly, he's got a wrister and slapper that can score from a distance.

Bonus edit: Can you imagine sending Crosby, Letang, and Karlsson over the board in a shootout? Or how much it means to be able to have Letang as the lone d-man in OT for one set of forwards, and Karlsson over the board for the next set? Scary.

Here's all his goals from last season:

After watching this video, I'm convinced that he currently has the best shot of anyone on the team.

[IntangibleBeer]

Analysis:

Karlsson will either be the best or the worst player in Penguins history to wear the number 65.

For the life of me, I can't think of anyone else who wore #65. Am I overlooking anyone of note?

[FLPensFan]

Analysis:

Karlsson will either be the best or the worst player in Penguins history to wear the number 65.

For the life of me, I can't think of anyone else who wore #65. Am I overlooking anyone of note?

Ron Hainsey (that's ok, I didn't remember him either lol) Lovejoy also had it for a short time early in his career. Those are the other players to wear the number for us.

[Three Stars]

Put some respect on Ron Hainsey’s name. Undefeated in the playoffs as a #2 defenseman on a Stanley Cup winning team. He’s also more nimble than James Neal, although admittedly that last one isn’t difficult.