Penguins Acquire Defenseman Erik Karlsson
The Pittsburgh Penguins got their target and it took a ton of moving pieces to get it done.
At long last, the waiting is over; the Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks in a three-team deal.
The Montreal Canadiens stepped in as the third team and helped elevate some of the cap and roster constraints for the Penguins.
There was a lot of moving pieces to the three-team deal, but the full break down is as follows:
· Pittsburgh acquires defenseman Erik Karlsson, forward Rem Pitlick, forward Dillon Hamaliuk and San Jose’s 2026 third-round draft pick.
· San Jose acquires Pittsburgh’s 2024 first-round draft pick (top-10 protected), forward Mikael Granlund, defenseman Jan Rutta and forward Mike Hoffman (via Montreal).
· Montreal acquires Pittsburgh’s 2025 second-round draft pick, defenseman Jeff Petry, goaltender Casey DeSmith and prospect forward Nathan Legare.
Karlsson joins the Penguins with four years remaining on his contract that earns him a total of $11.5 million annually.
The Sharks have agreed to retain $1.5 million of the AAV; the Penguins will take on the rest of the $10 million.
Karlsson is fresh off of a season where he became the first defenseman in over 30 years to record 100 points and took home is third Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman.
President of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas has had his eyes on Karlsson ever since he interviewed for the job in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins will retain $1,562,500 of Petry’s AAV for the final two years of his contract.
With the dust settled on the trade, the Penguins now sit just about $79,000 over the cap limit.
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