CRANBERRY TWP., PA (93.7 The Fan) – By the time it started getting into the media mainstream, that was the point Pens President/GM Kyle Dubas said it was the ‘opening rounds of a championship fight’ to attempt to land defenseman Erik Karlsson.
It was around the trade deadline when it really started to heat up. Dubas admitted there is a paranoia that goes with it. Are you doing enough? Do you know the market well enough? Which other teams could jump in? Could someone beat you to it? He said he spent a lot of nights staring at the ceiling instead of sleeping.
He said part of what made this deal so difficult was it was past free agency and with a flat cap, many teams had limited cap space. You can imagine Dubas and his staff going through all the possibilities with all of the teams. There must have been hundreds of scenarios they played out.
Eventually they were able to make it work and Dubas said even with the loss of draft picks, they were able to keep an eye towards their future without losing their key young players.
Why Karlsson?
Understanding it’s obvious any franchise would want an Erik Karlsson on their roster, but what specifically about his game made it this months long quest to acquire him?
“I think by going through our team, one of the things that I felt and talking with Sully about is we need to continually improve our ability to move the puck from our own zone,” Dubas said. “Erik, I think is one of the big players in that regard in the NHL. Even though he says in his early thirties, he continues to be one of the top skaters in the NHL and obviously his production and offense is quite prolific. So, very competitive, very motivated person wants to come in and help our team.”
The fit?
Dubas deferred to head coach Mike Sullivan and assistant Todd Reirden of how they will put the defensive pairings together. He noted the chance to have one of those two players on the ice for at least 50 minutes of the game. It opens up opportunities with the third pair now. He believes there are a number of young guys there. Now someone has to take it and run with it.
The expectations are one (of Letang and Karlsson) will be paired with newcomer Ryan Graves and the other with Marcus Pettersson.
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Cap room
There have been times over the last few years where the Pens were unable to call up a player from the minors because they were so tight against the cap. CapFriendly.com says the Pens are $79,000 over it currently. Dubas said he will make moves even if it costs them someone trying to send them down.
“We're not going to be afraid to use waivers to get or get flexibility or lose guys,” Dubas said. “I've never operated that way. You know, sometimes it's you have this fear that if you put a guy on waivers that he will go elsewhere. He's going to be great. If you're at that point where you're unsure, but we'll just put them on and it will wish them well. If they go and show us that they're better elsewhere, then we'll be happy for them.”
“I think with us, we need to continue to have that competition, especially the number of players that are there,” Dubas said. “We don't want to box ourselves in the way. We have it mapped out now that we have room for 22 to start on opening night. Of course, things will happen in camp that will change all of that one way or the other. You never know what's going to happen. But as we sit today, that's the way we look at it. So, one extra D, one extra forward and you know, we'll go with the best 13-7-2 out of camp.”