Grading the Blockbuster Erik Karlsson to the Penguins Trade

The most anticipated trade of the offseason finally happened Sunday afternoon when the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired three-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks.

It gives the Penguins another future Hall of Famer to add to their core and significantly changes their outlook for the 2023-24 season. It might help keep their window for serious contention open for another couple of years and gives the trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang another chance for a serious run at a Stanley Cup.

As expected, a third team needed to be involved to help make the money work. Surprisingly, it was the Montreal Canadiens.

In total, there were three teams, nine players, three draft picks, 12 total assets and two retained salaries involved in the blockbuster trade.

Now that we know the details, let's see how everybody did. It is report card time, and these are the grades for the blockbuster trade that sent Karlsson to the Penguins.

Penguins receive: Erik Karlsson, Rem Pitlick, Dillon Hamaliuk, 2026 third-round pick

Penguins trade: Mikael Granlund, Jeff Petry, Jan Rutta, Casey DeSmith, 2025 second-round pick, Nathan Legare

To understand just how well general manager Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins did, you must first understand where they were starting from.

When Sunday began, the Penguins were pressed to the upper limits of the NHL's salary cap. They had a series of undesirable contracts left over from the Ron Hextall and Brian Burke era. They had one of the shallowest prospect pools in the league and a roster full of players over the age of 30 and short on young talent.

They ended the day not only getting Erik Karlsson, but also by coming out of the trade with an additional $2.5 million in salary-cap space and with San Jose retaining $1.5 million of Karlsson's contract over each of the next four years.

It is absolute madness that it worked out this way.

A couple of months ago, acquiring a player—and contract—like Karlsson seemed like an unimaginable dream. The fact that they not only acquired him, but also acquired him like this, almost defies logic.

The two draft picks, a top-10-protected first-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick, are probably the most valuable assets the Penguins traded. Even then, it is a ridiculously small price to pay for a future Hall of Famer who is coming off one of the best offensive seasons ever for a defenseman and his third Norris Trophy-winning season.

The players the Penguins gave up are almost all players they did not want or had any use for in the short or long term.

Granlund's contract was an albatross after he was shockingly acquired by Hextall at the trade deadline.

Petry was a disappointment in his one year with the Penguins while also carrying a significant contract. Replacing him on the blue line with Karlsson is a massive upgrade.

Rutta was overpaid for his role as a bottom-pairing defender, while DeSmith was an inconsistent and unreliable backup goalie

Legare was at one time a decent prospect but is already 22 years old, has never played a game in the NHL and is coming off an eight-goal, 19-point season in the AHL.

All of that got them Karlsson, a depth forward and salary-cap space. It is as close as you can get to an "all of our bad players for your good player" trade. If you had proposed this offer on Friday on the internet or a message board, people would have laughed at you.

They made it work in reality. An absolute masterclass performance by Dubas.

Grade: A+

Sharks receive: 2024 first-round pick, Mikael Granlund, Jan Rutta, Mike Hoffman

Sharks trade: Erik Karlsson, Dillon Hamaliuk, 2026 third-round pick

On one hand, the Sharks had to know expectations for a return on Karlsson were going to be low.

Blockbuster trades always seem a little underwhelming for the team giving up the star, and the Sharks didn't really have a lot of leverage.

They had a player who wanted a trade, controlled where he could go via a no-trade clause and owned a contract that only a handful of teams could take.

That isn't a great position of strength, even though the player in question just did something that had not been done in 30 years (score 100 points in a season as a defenseman) and won his third Norris Trophy.

But even with all of that said, this return still seems shockingly bad and underwhelming for the Sharks.

They will see massive salary-cap savings in a couple of years, which should help them in their rebuild, but that is the only long-term benefit they are getting here. And there is almost no short-term benefit.

Granlund, Rutta and Hoffman are not going to do anything to advance the team this season, especially with Karlsson no longer on the roster. They also have very limited value as future trade assets. They are all over 30 and are far removed from their best days in the league.

Granlund is coming off an awful 2022-23 performance and still counts $5 million against the cap per year over the next two seasons. He can still make some plays as a passer, but not anywhere near enough to justify that salary. He isn't a goal-scorer, isn't particularly fast, doesn't defend well and isn't a meaningful impact player when it comes to driving possession.

Rutta's best role is as a bottom-pairing defender who can provide some decent defensive play, but not much else.

Hoffman can still score on the power play a bit, but he is the type of player that if he isn't scoring goals for you, he isn't doing anything to help your team.

Even the draft pick is top-10 protected, meaning the best the Sharks can hope for is the No. 11 overall pick in 2024. Even that seems like a long shot.

The most likely outcome here is Karlsson helps make the Penguins a playoff team again and that pick is somewhere in the 17-32 range, which isn't likely going to produce an impact player.

Honestly, the best hope for the Sharks here in this trade is that Karlsson's absence, combined with the immediate return, makes the Sharks bad enough to put them in the running for the No. 1 overall pick.

Keep in mind that when Karlsson was on the ice during five-on-five play this season, the Sharks had an even goal differential. Without him on the ice, they were outscored by 53 goals. He made an awful team an average team when he was on the ice. Now, they no longer have that. This could be a very long season for the Sharks.

Grade: D

Canadiens receive: 2025 second-round pick, Jeff Petry, Casey DeSmith, Nathan Legare

Canadiens trade: Rem Pitlick, Mike Hoffman

The Canadiens' primary role in this trade is to simply serve as the dumping ground for some bad contracts from Pittsburgh.

By taking Petry and DeSmith, Montreal allowed Pittsburgh to create more than $6 million in salary-cap space. While Montreal took on those contracts, it also dumped $5.6 million in cap space by trading Pitlick and Hoffman's remaining contracts this season.

So for this season, it's only a marginal cap increase for the Canadiens, and they get a lottery ticket prospect in Legare for their trouble there.

They are stuck with $4.6 million of Petry's contract for the 2024-25 season, but that is what landed them the 2025 second-round pick.

In the end, the Canadiens' salary-cap situation is almost a wash this season, and even though Petry is still under contract for another season, he still might be a viable veteran defenseman for a young blue line or be traded for more assets.

They didn't need to get involved here, but they picked up a couple of lottery tickets for the future.

They did fine. Nothing game-changing. Also, nothing that hurts them in the short-term or long-term.

Grade: B

Salary-cap and contract information was provided by CapFriendly.com