(WGR 550) – This year’s Norris Trophy winner as best defenseman in the National Hockey League has been traded.
The San Jose Sharks have sent Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Because of salary retention, it’s a very confusing three-team deal that included the Montreal Canadiens.
As part of the deal, Pittsburgh gets Karlsson, forwards Rem Pitlick and Dillon Hamaliuk, and San Jose’s third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
For the Sharks, they get Pittsburgh’s first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft that is top-10 protected, forwards Mike Hoffman and Mikael Granlund, and defenseman Jan Rutta.
As for Montreal, the Canadiens receive goalie Casey DeSmith, defenseman Jeff Petry, Pittsburgh’s 2025 second-round pick and forward Nathan Legare.
Now, let’s look at the money:
- Karlsson’s cap hit is $11.5 million for the next four seasons (he’s 33-years-old)
- Petry has a cap hit of $6.25 million for the next two seasons
- San Jose retains $1.5 million of Karlsson’s salary
- The Penguins retain 25% of Petry’s salary ($1.56 million)
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In his first huge trade with the Penguins, general manager and President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas was able to rid Pittsburgh of some players who just weren’t playing well in Petry, Granlund and Rutta, along with a pretty good backup goalie in DeSmith. In addition, Legare is a 22-year-old third-round pick who has had two disappointing seasons with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Getting those players gone and off the payroll might be as useful as getting Karlsson. They, of course, also gave up a first- and a second-round pick as part of the trade.
Karlsson had struggled since leaving the Ottawa Senators back in 2018 until he exploded this past season. His defense is atrocious, but you can’t argue his offensive capabilities, especially after registering 101 points (25+76) in 82 games.
The Swedish defenseman should also make Pittsburgh’s power play something that will be almost impossible to handle for other teams.
Pitlick has played 123 NHL games with the Canadiens, Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators.
Last season in 46 games with Montreal, the 26-year-old had six goals and nine assists for 15 points. In 18 games with the Laval Rocket in the American Hockey League, Pitlick scored five goals and 17 assists for 22 points.
Hamaliuk is 22-years-old and was taken by the Sharks in the second-round of the 2019 NHL Draft. The winger only played six games with the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL last season, scoring four goals and three assists for seven points.
Hoffman has seen his production slip in the past three years after scoring 29 goals for the Florida Panthers during the 2019-20 season. In 679 NHL games with the Canadiens, Panthers, Senators and St. Louis Blues, the 33-year-old has 218 goals and 246 assists for 464 points. That’s an average of 26 goals over an 82-game span in his career.
The veteran winger hit a career-high 36 goals with Florida during the 2018-19 campaign.
Granlund had one 26-goal season with the Wild back in the 2016-17 season. During his 2021-22 campaign with the Predators, the winger had 53 assists and 64 points.
The 31-year-old has played 750 NHL games, scoring 145 goals and 339 assists for 484 points. In 79 games last season between Nashville and Pittsburgh, he had 10 goals and 31 assists for 41 points.
Ruuta is another 33-year-old defenseman who has played 294 NHL games with the Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks. He has 15 goals and 55 assists for 70 points in his career.
In his only season with Pittsburgh last year, Ruuta had three goals and six assists for nine points in 56 games.
Petry played parts of eight seasons with Montreal before being traded last July to Pittsburgh. In his only season with the Penguins, the 35-year-old had five goals and 26 assists for 31 points in 61 games.
In 864 career NHL games, with his only other stop being with the Edmonton Oilers, Petry has 92 goals and 261 assists for 353 points.
As for DeSmith, he was signed by Pittsburgh in 2017 after three seasons of college hockey with the University of New Hampshire Wildcats. Over his 134 career NHL games played, DeSmith has a 2.81 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.
Last season, DeSmith played a career-high 38 games, going 15-16-4 with a 3.17 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
