Talk about a mid-summer stunner!
On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Penguins traded for San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson in an early August blockbuster. The Montreal Canadiens pitched in as well as the third team to help facilitate the trade.
The Penguins had been pursuing Karlsson for some time, with the Carolina Hurricanes the rumored other team in the hunt for the high-octane offensive defenseman. Karlsson is the reigning Norris Trophy winner after putting up a career-best 101 points in a full 82-game season last year.
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a major NHL trade of some kind, so let’s break down the particulars and hand out grades between the Penguins, Sharks and Canadiens!
The details
Here’s how the massive Erik Karlsson trade breaks down between the three teams. Seriously, get your pencils out.
- Penguins get: D Erik Karlsson (via Sharks, 13 percent retained), F Rem Pitlick (via Canadiens), F Dillon Hamaliuk (via Sharks), 2026 third-round pick (via Sharks)
- Sharks get: F Mikael Granlund (via Penguins), D Jan Rutta (via Penguins), F Mike Hoffman (via Canadiens) 2024 first-round pick (via Penguins)
- Canadiens get: D Jeff Petry (via Penguins, 25 percent retained), G Casey DeSmith (via Penguins), F Nathan Legare (via Penguins), 2025 second-round pick (via Penguins)
Pittsburgh Penguins
Penguins grade: A+
What a tidy piece of work by general manager Kyle Dubas here. The Penguins jettisoned two forwards, two defensemen, their previous backup goaltender and a handful of draft picks for a 100-point player. On paper, it’s a lot to give up, but Dubas didn’t gut any essential pieces of Pittsburgh’s roster to do it.
In fact, the Penguins actually gained salary cap space with this move!
Pittsburgh #LetsGoPens have cleared $3.1M in cap hit through this tradehttps://t.co/0Xc4Jas4eI pic.twitter.com/dNyqNYrP9Y
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) August 6, 2023
The Penguins are for sure the winners of this trade. How could they not be when they now get to add Karlsson and his prolific offense to their point-starved roster.
There are still questions here, to be sure. Will Karlsson — at age 33 — be as potent on offense as he was last year? Is this trade, combined with the ones the Penguins made earlier this offseason, enough to move the needle on an aged Pittsburgh roster and get them back to contending?
Given the Penguins are riding into the sunset with whatever else remains of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang’s contracts, Dubas had to make a home run swing. It’s a big splash — and a big win today — but will it be enough to bring back one last Stanley Cup to Pittsburgh? Only time will tell.
San Jose Sharks
Sharks grade: D
The Sharks were never going to win a Karlsson deal, even trading him at his peak price. While the 2024 first-round pick is a great get — adding to the pick San Jose already has next year — it’s not hard to feel disappointed at this return.
Granlund, Rutta and Hoffman are all above the age of 30 and set to be off the roster by 2025-26 when their contracts expire. Outside of the first-rounder next year, the Sharks got nothing to facilitate their rebuild. Sure, the three roster players the Sharks picked up will help the team continue to stay in the NHL’s basement for another chance at a high pick next year, but to get no prospects here is head-scratching. It would have been nice if the Sharks got another young prospect to add to their cupboard alongside their most recent first-round pick Will Smith.
Not really sure what general manager Mike Grier was doing here, to be honest.
Montreal Canadiens
Canadiens grade: B
The Canadiens reunite with Petry — on a discount with the retained salary! — add a 22-year-old prospect, get a backup goaltender for Jake Allen and nab a second-round pick to their cupboard as well. As third team facilitators go, the Canadiens did real great work here to get back some useful pieces while also getting a 2025 second-round pick for helping move money around.
Kent Hughes has done a lot of great work as the Canadiens’ general manager over the last year and a half and this is another feather in his cap for a job well done.
