There have been quite a few fascinating developments over the first two games of the 2025-26 season for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
- Not only have they won both games, but they have significantly outplayed both opponents. Maybe that says more about the New York Rangers and New York Islanders than it does about the Penguins (I suspect it might), but it has still been something to see.
- The games have also been refreshing to watch compared to the better part of the past two seasons. Young players have brought some excitement. Head coach Dan Muse has brought a new voice, new ideas and a new system. They have been entertaining to watch, which is really all you can ask for this season.
- Justin Brazeau has three goals, and two of them have been fantastic finishes where he flashed more skill than I was anticipating seeing from him.
- Evgeni Malkin looks like he has found the fountain of youth.
- The two teenagers, Ben Kindel and Harrison Brunicke, not only do not look out of place in the NHL, they look like they belong.
Will any of it last? Who knows! But the games have at least been interesting.
The other big development so far? Defenseman Erik Karlsson looks like the Erik Karlsson the Penguins thought — and hoped — they were getting at the start of the 2023-24 season when they originally acquired him.
Karlsson’s first two years in Pittsburgh were quite polarizing, to say the least. The offensive numbers were still mostly there. Between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons he was 10th among NHL defensemen in points, while his underlying numbers in terms of driving possession and out-chancing opponents were mostly fine. When he was on the ice during 5-on-5 play the Penguins outscored and out-chanced their opponents. The numbers were there.
What wasn’t there was the eye-test.
He never LOOKED the way anybody wanted him to look, and he seemed to lack the overall brilliance and dynamic play that made him a Hall of Fame talent and three-time Norris Trophy winner throughout his prime.
There were big mistakes, missed assignments, ugly turnovers and it just did not seem like the Karlsson-in-Pittsburgh experiment was working. Or ever going to work.
There’s also some truth to the idea that people were seeing what they wanted to see.
If you trusted the numbers and were willing to accept that his style of play would sometimes lead to some ugly moments, you were probably fine with the way he played. If you didn’t trust the numbers, and put more emphasis on that eye-test and were expecting Norris-level play … you were probably disappointed.
It reached the point where there was a push for the Penguins to just move his contract and get back what they could for it.
But on Tuesday and Thursday he just seemed to be closer to Norris-level Karlsson than whatever it was the Penguins were getting the past two seasons. He has looked in control. The turnovers and bad players have been almost non-existent. His skating has looked superb. He’s just been … really good.
Did he just hate playing for Mike Sullivan?
Did Mike Sullivan just hate coaching him and have no idea how to use him?
Is it just a case of Karlsson being fully healthy?
Or is Karlsson just determined to impress the scouts for Team Sweden to get himself put on the Olympic team for the 2026 games in Italy?
It could be a combination of all four factors. Whatever it is, the numbers have been there and he’s looked the part as well.
Whatever your expectations are for the Penguins this season, you should still want to see Karlsson play well. Even if it’s not for the Penguins, but for somebody else to see it and be more willing to take on a significant portion of his contract. There’s still an incentive to want to see him do well.
Through two games it’s been a great start. Now let’s see if it continues.
