Erik Karlsson figures to have a far better start his 2025-26 than his 2024-25 campaign.<\/p>\n
And the reason is simple.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s healthy.<\/p>\n
An undisclosed injury sidelined Karlsson for almost all of the 2024 training camp and didn\u2019t allow him the benefit of entering the regular season at full speed.<\/p>\n
Karlsson wound up playing in all 82 games and posted 53 points (11 goals, 42 assists), an impressive figure on paper.<\/p>\n
But paper can\u2019t fully tabulate the numerous miscues by Karlsson that led to opposing goals. Or the generally underwhelming results he has offered in the more than two years since he arrived via one of the biggest trades in NHL history.<\/p>\n
So yeah, a good start to even something seemingly as mundane as training camp was reason for optimism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was probably one of the harder first-day training camp skates that I\u2019ve done in a long time,\u201d Karlsson said when camp opened in Cranberry on Sept. 18. \u201cIt\u2019s nice. It feels nice to know that I can still hang.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sight of Karlsson\u2019s jersey still hanging in the Penguins\u2019 dressing room was a matter of some doubt this past offseason. Given the Penguins\u2019 overall malfunctions the past two seasons and Karlsson\u2019s largely unsatisfactory contributions, there was plenty of speculation that he could be traded away for the benefit of the team and the player.<\/p>\n
Karlsson stated he was oblivious to that chatter as he spent the past few months in his native Sweden.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a quiet summer for me,\u201d Karlsson said. \u201cI didn\u2019t really hear much other than what I read from you guys and other (media) around the league, which is typical for the offseason. I know I\u2019m in the position that I\u2019m in. But on my end, it was a very quiet and relaxing summer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether the Penguins had any substantive talks with any potential transaction partners, Karlsson has a full no-movement clause in his contract and would need to approve any trade, much like he did in August of 2023 when he arrived in Pittsburgh in a deal with the San Jose Sharks.<\/p>\n
He professes his focus remains with his current employer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it would have changed along the way, it would have,\u201d Karlsson said. \u201cBut \u2026 it did not. For me, it was a very quiet summer. I\u2019m sure there was a lot of rumblings. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s been some discussions here and there, which is pretty normal. But from my side, not at the level where there was anything I had to be worried about or take into consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n
One matter Karlsson would like to be considered is his case to be a member of Sweden\u2019s Olympic hockey team. In June, the participating nations announced their first six selections to their respective rosters.<\/p>\n
Karlsson \u2014 a seven-time All-Star and a three-time winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL\u2019s top defenseman \u2014 was not part of the sextet Sweden named.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I\u2019m aiming to play in the Olympics. I, as of right now, think I\u2019m a lock on that team,\u201d Karlsson boasted. \u201cI still have to prove myself and show them that I can still play at a high level. I think I\u2019ve done that up until now. But now, I\u2019ve got to continue that. Obviously happy for all the guys that got the nod to go already. All deservedly so.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, a very important thing for me is to get up to speed, especially at the Olympics. It\u2019s been a while since we\u2019ve had that opportunity. That\u2019s obviously a big motivator for me. Same as it is a big motivator for me to come in here and show that I can be a top player in this league still which I believe I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
One player who was named as one of his country\u2019s first six Olympic selections concurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019s motivated,\u201d said Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, the presumed captain for Canada. \u201cFor all the guys that are in the conversation or have already made the team, there\u2019s a lot of motivation with that. Guys know in the back of their mind what\u2019s coming up. I would expect that to be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karlsson appears slotted in open the regular season on the Penguins\u2019 top pairing next to free agent signing Parker Wotherspoon. They were teamed together for most of training camp and the preseason.<\/p>\n
Karlsson has also been getting extensive work on the team\u2019s top power-play unit after being moved to the second unit for much of last season.<\/p>\n
A better start to this season could provide a badly needed lift to a team few expect to succeed in 2025-26.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can hang early on in the year, start winning some games early on and get a good feeling in this group, we\u2019ll see where it can take us,\u201d Karlsson said. \u201cGot to start like that and hopefully, we can get off to a decently good start and get some good feeling in here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Erik Karlsson figures to have a far better start his 2025-26 than his 2024-25 campaign. And the reason…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-199538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}