The San Jose Sharks granted longtime defenseman Erik Karlsson‘s trade request Sunday, sending him to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a three-team deal that also involves the Montreal Canadiens for a haul that includes veteran forward Mikael Granlund and a 2024 first-round pick.
Along with Granlund and the pick, which is top-10 protected, the Sharks acquired winger Mike Hoffman and defenseman Jan Rutta.
The Penguins also received forwards Rem Pitlick and Dillon Hamaliuk and a 2026 third-round pick, while the Canadiens are getting defenseman Jeff Petry, goaltender Casey DeSmith, forward Nathan Legare and a 2025 second-round selection.
Karlsson, the 2022-23 Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defenseman, had told the Sharks he wanted to be traded to a title contender during the offseason.
“I want to win,” Karlsson said at the NHL Awards media day in June, when he won his third Norris Trophy. “That’s not to say that I’m going to win. I want an opportunity to win. If that opportunity is not in San Jose right now within my timeline, then that’s just the unfortunate part of business. That’s not to say that I don’t like it there or they don’t want me there or we don’t want this to work. It’s just that’s just the way it is.”
Karlsson joins a Penguins team that missed the playoffs last season for the first time since 2006 but is reorganizing under Kyle Dubas, the new president of hockey operations and general manager. The Sharks have missed the playoffs for each of the past four years.
The 33-year-old Karlsson posted a career-high 101 points (25 goals, 76 assists) last season, making him the first defenseman to record 100 or more points since Brian Leetch in 1991-92. Karlsson is signed for four more seasons at an average annual value of $11.5 million.
The Sharks are retaining $1.5 million of his salary per year as part of the trade.
“While it is always difficult to trade a player of the caliber of Erik Karlsson, this trade accomplishes several goals for our franchise,” Sharks GM Mike Grier said. “It adds two forwards to our roster who have proven ability to produce offensively at the NHL level and solidifies our NHL defense corps. Additionally, acquiring another first-round pick gives us the opportunity to continue fortifying our development system with high-end prospects and provides us some financial flexibility to add players as we see fit in the future.”
Karlsson is the first defenseman to be traded fresh off winning the Norris since Doug Harvey in 1961. Karlsson spent five seasons in San Jose after playing the first nine years of his career with the Ottawa Senators.
In 987 regular-season and playoff games, Karlsson has 814 points — the most of any defenseman since he broke into the league in 2009. He will now be an important part of the Pens’ plan to get Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and other veterans back to the postseason.
Dubas replaced the fired Brian Burke and Ron Hextall, assuming a mandate from ownership to keep Pittsburgh contending with Crosby, Malkin and Letang still under contract.
Granlund, 31, had 41 points (10 goals, 31 assists) in 79 games last season split between Nashville and Pittsburgh. He has 484 career points (145 goals, 339 assists) with the Minnesota Wild (2012-2019), Predators (2019-2023) and Penguins.
Rutta, 32, had three goals and six assists and a plus-3 rating in 56 games last season with the Penguins. Hoffman, 33, collected 14 goals and 20 assists in 67 games last season with the Canadiens.
Pitlick, 26, had six goals and nine assists in 46 games last season with Montreal. Hamaliuk, 22, totaled four goals and three assists in six games last season with the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL.
DeSmith, 31, posted a 15-16-4 record with a 3.17 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in 38 games (33 starts) last season with Pittsburgh. Petry, 35, totaled five goals and 26 assists in 61 games last season with the Penguins, and Legare, a 22-year-old Montreal native, had eight goals and 11 assists in 68 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
