Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson eager to return to playoffs
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Eight months into his tenure with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Erik Karlsson is still fuzzy on a few details of his surroundings.
Like his teammates’ first names.
But he has the nicknames down.
“You’re talking about ‘Tanger?’” Karlsson said when asked about fellow defenseman Kris Letang. “We never call him Kris.”
There were some growing pains for Karlsson in his first season as a member of the Penguins. But the biggest discomfort came in how the season ended.
Without the playoffs.
“We had a good group of guys in here,” Karlsson said during the team’s exit interviews Thursday in Cranberry. “I think we had a much better team than where we ended up. Ultimately, that’s on all of us. It’s hard to pinpoint just one thing on why it didn’t go the way that we wanted it to. It wasn’t for a lack of effort, I know that much. It’s a very professional group in here, and we all tried as hard as we could to find new ways and figure things out. Unfortunately, we did not. That’s just sad.”
Karlsson’s production was mostly uplifting in 2023-24. Appearing in all 82 games, he posted 56 points (11 goals, 45 assists), tied for third-most on the team.
Those figures might have been more ample had the team’s power play not been a calamity most of the season. Despite having some spectacular talents such as Karlsson along with forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins finished with a conversion rate of 15.3%, 30th in the NHL.
“I don’t think it’s just one thing,” Karlsson said. “We tried as hard as we could to figure everything out, and once it started going in the other direction, it was too hard for us to get out of it. What that is, I don’t really know. I don’t think there’s just one single thing, it was just a snowball effect that (none) of us could stop. … That’s something that hopefully, come next year, it’s going to get addressed. Hopefully, we don’t get off to the rocky start that we did this year. We definitely have the people to do it.”
While hardly perfect, Karlsson largely sated management.
“Karlsson, I thought at the end of the year, showed exactly why you acquire Erik Karlsson,” president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas said Friday. “He skated, took charge, shot the puck rather than try to slap pass it through five people every time — which he and I have had many discussions about — and became awfully effective because he kept the defense off balance, defended harder.
“He’s going to be in his mid-30s. Massive summer to maintain his level and improve it and start next year rolling. But I think he got on his way, like the rest of the group overall at the same time, and a little bit too late. But wouldn’t change anything with him at all. He’s going to be able to play at a high level for a long time.”
Karlsson and company are hoping it won’t take a long time to return to the playoffs.
“Everybody is already excited for that,” Karlsson said. “I know I am. It’s going to be nice to step away for a bit and reflect and try to figure out what you can do to move forward and be better as a player and better as a team. One thing I know that I’ve learned over the first year here is how dedicated this organization is to be at its best and how professional everybody is.
“We have a much better team in here than what we displayed over the course of the 82 games.”