{"id":122268,"date":"2025-09-06T03:38:41","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T03:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/122268\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T03:38:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T03:38:41","slug":"evening-notes-karlsson-hughes-swayman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/122268\/","title":{"rendered":"Evening Notes: Karlsson, Hughes, Swayman"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Penguins are entering the season with much of last season\u2019s roster intact, but Erik Karlsson<\/a> remains the most likely trade candidate. In a recent article on The Athletic<\/a>, Josh Yohe highlights that despite being a three-time Norris Trophy winner, Karlsson\u2019s $10 million cap hit, recent struggles, and no-movement clause could complicate any potential trade. Any trade would likely require Pittsburgh to retain a large portion of his salary, raising questions about whether the return would justify the cost.<\/p>\n

An ownership change could further complicate a Karlsson trade. The new prospective<\/a> ownership group, the Hoffmann Family, may be reluctant to inherit retained salary obligations, while Fenway Sports Group could hesitate to commit to such a deal if it remains the majority owner. The uncertainty leaves Karlsson\u2019s future in limbo, even as the front office appears to believe moving him is ultimately in the team\u2019s best interest.<\/p>\n

As Yohe notes, Karlsson\u2019s situation also ties directly to the development of prospect Harrison Brunicke<\/a>. The 19-year-old impressed last year as the best defensive prospect in the Penguins system, scoring five goals and 30 points in 41 games for the WHL\u2019s Kamloops Blazers. Still, with Karlsson, Kris Letang<\/a>, Matt Dumba<\/a>, and Connor Clifton<\/a> on the right side, there\u2019s no current path to NHL minutes. A Karlsson trade could open significant ice time and accelerate Brunicke\u2019s rise, aligning with the Penguins\u2019 stated goal of going younger this season.<\/p>\n

Other notes from this evening:<\/p>\n

Despite qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, the General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens, Kent Hughes<\/a>, is tempering down expectations for the team entering the 2025-26 campaign. Montreal gained a year of experience from last year\u2019s playoff run and boosted its forward core this summer by adding Zachary Bolduc<\/a> from the St. Louis Blues. Still, in an interview with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic<\/a>, Hughes was quoted as saying, \u201cIt\u2019s great that the fan base is excited about it. As a general manager, you worry that the players don\u2019t get too far ahead of themselves. It\u2019s a little bit harder when people see you coming than when we sneak up on them.\u201c
\nAfter the objectively worst season of his NHL career, Jeremy Swayman<\/a> of the Boston Bruins has changed \u201ceverything\u201d about his play this summer. In a post-skate meeting with Scott McLaughlin of WEEI<\/a>, Swayman said, \u201cI\u2019m a completely different human being.\u201d Last season, in his first as Boston\u2019s de facto starter, Swayman managed a 22-29-7 record in 58 starts with a .892 SV% and 3.11 GAA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Penguins are entering the season with much of last season\u2019s roster intact, but Erik Karlsson remains the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,5789,10769,64076,78215,5790,575,4785,85],"class_list":["post-122268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boston-bruins","tag-erik-karlsson","tag-jeremy-swayman","tag-kent-hughes","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nhl","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}