The Pittsburgh Penguins knew what they were getting with Erik Karlsson, and he's proving to be worth the wait.

When Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins pulled off the trade of the summer by acquiring three-time Norris Trophy winning defenseman Erik Karlsson, plenty of questions and criticisms followed.

Following the trade, there was genuine belief the Penguins were getting a regressing offensive defenseman who will not only decline in scoring, but won’t bring the same defensive game he used to.

After a quarter of the 2023-24 season, it’s safe to say those doubters have been proven wrong.

It took some time for Karlsson to get rolling, but in 20 games Karlsson has scored six goals and picked up 12 assists for 18 points; that’s tied for third on the Penguins in scoring.

People firmly believed Karlsson would ‘regress,’ but that was expected as a technicality; Karlsson is coming off of a historic 101-point season.

A defenseman recording 100 points or more has only happened a handful of times and this was the first time since the early 1990s.

Obviously, he likely won’t be able to hit that mark again in his career, but even his slowest offensive seasons are better than Kris Letang has ever put up scoring wise.

As for Karlsson’s defensive game, well, he’s been much better than anticipated.

If you keep a close eye on the way he played in his own zone, you’ll see that he utilizes all of his strengths to be a defensive force on opposing teams.

Head coach Mike Sullivan stated that the team was working on adding to his defensive ability early in the season, and it’s paying off.

Karlsson is able to utilize his speed to force quick decisions from attackers and his good stick/hand-eye are disrupting passes at an outstanding rate; for context, he leads all Penguins defensemen in takeaways with 12.

There may have been some risk associated in taking Karlsson, his contract is still massive sitting at $10 million against the Penguins salary cap, but he’s played extremely well and is exceeding expectations already.

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