Multiple key players in Pittsburgh support Kyle Dubas' pursuit of Norris Trophy winner

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Mike Armenti
July 21, 2023 (10:09)

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The Pittsburgh Penguins are without a doubt looking to remain as competitive as possible for the remaining years of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang before the multi-time Stanley Cup champions ride off into the sunset and call it a career. You don't need to look very hard to find evidence of this. You need only look to the Pens' pursuit of Norris Trophy winner, Erik Karlsson.

Rob Rossi of The Athletic reported on Thursday that not only are Crosby and Letang into the idea of bringing Karlsson to Pittsburgh, they're actually advocating for it.

"Captain Sidney Crosby and top defenseman Kris Letang have endorsed acquiring Karlsson. Letang would remain the Penguins' No. 1 defenseman and work on the top pairing. He is willing to change his role on the top power-play unit so Karlsson could quarterback it." Rossi said.

Karlsson may not longer be the player he once was, but at 33, he's coming off his third career Norris Trophy win after putting up an astounding 101 points in 82 games for an awful San Jose Sharks team last season.

Karlsson's $11.5M salary remains a challenge for teams to take on, especially with Sharks GM Mike Grier refusing to retain 50% of his contract. Rumours suggest that Grier is only willing to retain a maximum of 20% of Karlsson's deal, which still leaves him with a $9.2M cap hit. Fitting him in will be no easy feat for Kyle Dubas, but if his top players are pushing him to acquire the elite offensive defenseman, we may yet see him pull the trigger.

Source: Rob Rossi - The Athletic