Erik Karlsson Fixes Major Issue the Penguins Have in the Back End
With this core, the Pittsburgh Penguins have won an impressive three Stanley Cups, but as the group ages, they realized they encountered one major problem on the back end.
Speed, speed, speed
Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, the players they brought in around Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang lacked one major attribute: speed.
� Rutta is pretty slow
� Petry is pretty slow
� Granlund is really slow
� Legare is really slow
� Erik Karlsson is not slow
Team speed has been a major issue for the Penguins in recent years. It greatly improved today.
This is something that was cured greatly with the acquisition of Karlsson, as it added plenty of speed to the blue line, giving them another player that can put plenty of pressure on opposing teams.
A contender?
While the Penguins added significant firepower to their team this summer, with Reilly Smith and Ryan Graves joining the team as well, they remain in the stacked Eastern Conference, which has no less than 10 contenders.
Sure, Karlsson will give them more speed and offensive firepower, but with an ageing group, this could potentially be their final run, so expect to see them throw everything into this season.
As Read on The Hockey Writers - Penguins' Acquisition of Karlsson Changes the Team's Complexion
| POLL | ||
Does Karlsson turn Pittsburgh into a genuine playoff threat? | ||
| Yes | 722 | 45.8 % |
| No | 854 | 54.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
