DK’s Daily Shot of Penguins: What’s wrong with Karlsson?

25 comments

1. Anybody that thought square peg Karlsson was going to work in Mike Sullivan's round hole non-system is nuts.

2. 😶

3. Nope, none of this was on Ned okay, then..

4. This comment is for those that are suggesting Sullivan's 'bad coaching' is to blame for Karlsson……have you not watched hockey for the last 17 years? Erik Karlsson has in his whole career been bad defensively, has always had average hockey players look great….just go and watch games of him in Ottawa and worse in San Jose…this has nothing to do with Sullivan…the guy is trying his best to make something of Karlsson….oh and EVERY TEAM KARLSSON HAS BEEN ON HAS SUCKED…with the exception of surprise run to conference finals with Ottawa he has never won….I think you have cognitive bias if you see it as Sullivan issue and not the fact that the player is playing the way the player has always have, except maybe worse because he is older.

5. Listen to Karlsson’s VOICE and not his words. He was VERY upset last night. Also, he’s a Swede. We’re used to North American players all but self-immolating in front of the media when they so much as stumble on a line change. 65’s always going to be more positive in his message—if not in his delivery. EDIT: Having seen his demeanor in the video of this… Yeah, VERY upset.

6. You can't have two Letangs on the team. You actually need some defensively sound defenseman.

7. Truth is , Jarry was ALWYS individually blamed for these loses here. Funny to see people scrambling for a new scape goat to protect Dubas.

8. J1Q rant from Josh is spot on! Very poor play, especially on defense.

9. Worst player we have ever got

10. Graves went from being the worst to the best..defense player out thier..Patterson needs to go on the ice on his belly..cause he cant stand up.trade Patterson cause he is terrible

11. Sully needs to put graves back with letang

12. There is something wrong with him, Injury, mental slump, no one knows. He looks slow out there though and we all know he’s not a slow player. Not a lot of options besides letting him get through it

13. Sooo, they can't sit him down??? He's UNTOUCHABLE…it seems CLEAR to me…talking to him..ISNT WORKING…sit him down..time for BAD COP

14. Being a goalie in Pittsburgh right now is its own kind of hell. This team is a catastrophe!

15. He looked absolutely terrible last night. Send Ek to hangout with Jarry in WBS

16. I'm a EK fan, but this version of EK is horrible!!! He blew it last night, in Vancouver, and just hasn't played well all year. Why is Sully NOT playing Petterson with him after what they showed late last year and at the World's?!?!?!

17. Carter’s replacement.

18. Obtaining veteran players who have been good and them having them come to Pittsburgh and then just suck is a Penguins tradition. I think of Brassard and Iginla as recent examples. Sure, there have been guys like Gary Robert’s, but he was a character guy and not expected to be a highly skilled player. I’m sure people will have examples to prove me wrong, but you really need to go back to the era of Barrasso, Coffey, and Francis to find these big names that we traded for who continued to perform well.

19. There's plenty of blame to go around. I realize these guys are professional, but I wonder if they are just complacent of being on the ice, that losing is OK. All of them need to be better, and I don't think they know how. Maybe the team needs someone to rally around. Max Talbot left everything on the ice. WWGRD? Those two weren't superstars, but they made the team better.

20. If you remember last season toward the end when they needed points the most, EK helped other teams win then too. It's not just this year.

21. Just remember … Karlsson gets paid $11M guaranteed this year regardless of how he plays or whether or not the Pittsburgh Penguins win or lose. His salary drops to $9M next season, then $7.5M the final year of the worst contract in hockey. (The cap hit is $11.5 … $10M for the Pens … throughout the contract.)

22. Just a question … why wouldn't Sid or Geno pull Karlsson aside and let him know that this isn't acceptable? I get that there isn't much a coach can do with an $11.5M player who won't be scratched and can't be waived and gets paid regardless. But can't the other highly paid players who are working hard out there step in here?

23. Karlsson has not played one good defensive game since being here. He’s had a few good plays on offensive but cannot be trusted on the blue line. We will not win games with him playing defense.

24. one win against an over 500 team. They might win two of the next five. Something's gotta give…the team just seems cursed right now

25. He came with so much promise. The belief was he'd provide that outlet pass that would get the forwards flying offensively, something the other defenseman couldn't do. But he hasn't lived up to the hype, and I recall only one game he took over and looked like superman and that was early on last season. Right now his offense is being smoked by his defensive breakdowns resulting in goals, there is no upside to having him out there. At this stage, trade him by retaining half his salary, at least free up 5 million to acquire two journeymen that can play the defensive zone. Having Karlsson on the ice when you got Letang already creates such a weak defensive team, and these two are supposed to be your two best, move on from him, he's playing at half speed and seems uninterested. Let him collect his check somewhere else.