Had the Edmonton Oilers not missed their opportunity, the Pittsburgh Penguins wouldn't have landed Erik Karlsson.

The Pittsburgh Penguins made the trade of the offseason when they acquired Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks.

With training camps underway, Karlsson looks and feels right at home in a Penguins’ uniform, but the move to Pittsburgh almost didn’t happen.

Before finally being dealt over the summer, Karlsson had been on the Sharks’ trade block for quite a while and he was almost shipped out before the trade deadline during the 2022-23 season.

This comes according to the potential other piece in the trade, Tyson Barrie; in a video tweeted by Luke Gazdic of the Mitts Off podcast, Barrie opened up about his departure from the Edmonton Oilers.

At the trade deadline, Barrie was moved from Edmonton to the Nashville Predators, but Oilers’ president and general manager Ken Holland told him what could be in the cards.

Holland told Barrie the only place he would be traded to was San Jose in exchange for Karlsson.

Barrie completely understood, Karlsson is one of the most gifted defensemen in the NHL and can do a lot to help a team win.

Especially a team like the Oilers who already feature a high flying offense with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

Karlsson’s name continued to pop up around the Oilers throughout the season and up to the deadline, but nothing came together.

A few days before the deadline, Barrie was traded to the Predators in exchange for Mattias Ekholm.

Thanks to the Oilers missing out on Karlsson during the season, that left him on the block and open for the Penguins to swoop in with Kyle Dubas in charge.

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