NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger has been covering the NHL regularly since 1999. Each Sunday he will use his extensive networks of hockey contacts to write his weekly notes column, “Zizing ‘Em Up.”
TORONTO -- Earlier this month, Pierre-Luc Dubois went back to Winnipeg as a member of the Los Angeles Kings and was lustily booed every time he touched the puck.
On Saturday, Erik Karlsson will make his own return, this time to San Jose with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Will he get the Dubois treatment from the crowd at SAP Center, where he played for the San Jose Sharks for five seasons? Or will the veteran defenseman, who was traded to Pittsburgh over the summer, receive more cheers than jeers?
The 33-year-old would love the reaction to be a positive one.
“I hope so,” Karlsson told NHL.com in a phone interview. “I have a lot of memories there and will always cherish that, so hopefully they can take away the good times we had together. And, you know, other times, it’s just part of the business sometimes, unfortunately.
“It didn’t work out the way we wanted it to. I know they’re going through some tough times there right now, but I enjoyed my time there.”
In the case of Dubois, even though he claimed he never demanded a trade from the Winnipeg Jets, the passionate fan base in Manitoba’s capital had a sense he didn’t want to be in their market, whether to play or live, and felt betrayed. In what was an ugly divorce between player and city, the 25-year-old was dealt to the Kings for forwards Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, and a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Now it’s Karlsson’s turn. He’ll play an NHL game in San Jose for the first time since leaving the Bay Area when the Sharks host the Penguins on Nov. 4 (10 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, NBCSCA).
In Karlsson’s case, he wants it understood that his issue had nothing to do with calling San Jose his home. He loved it there. His children -- 4-year-old daughter, Harlow, and 1-year-old son, Stellan, were born there. His young family embraced being there.
At the same time, the Sharks’ narrative changed.
Having arrived in a trade from the Ottawa Senators in 2018, Karlsson reached the Western Conference Final with San Jose in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs before being eliminated by the eventual champion St. Louis Blues. What followed were four consecutive playoff misses, leading to the hiring of Mike Grier as general manager to oversee the rebuild July 5, 2022.
Eight days after Grier took over the position, All-Star defenseman Brent Burns was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes. Karlsson understood why. The Sharks were looking toward the future. Trouble was, as a 30-something player, he didn’t know if he’d still be in his prime to see it.
According to Karlsson, Grier was open to his desire to be dealt to a more competitive situation, one where he was closer to his dream of winning the Stanley Cup. The roadblock to that plan, he admits, was that he has four seasons remaining on an eight-year, $92 million contract ($11.5 million average annual value) he signed with San Jose on June 17, 2019.
Grier was clear there was only a certain amount of money in Karlsson’s contract the Sharks were willing to gobble up in any kind of trade, which made it difficult to pull off a deal. But pull it off they did, sending Karlsson to the Penguins in a three-team trade Aug. 6 that also involved the Montreal Canadiens, when San Jose would retain a digestible $1.5 million of his salary annually.
Karlsson said he is grateful for Grier’s efforts during the process.
“I think ever since he came in and took over his role there, it’s been a really mutually open relationship,” he said. “I think he knew the situation he was coming into and the things he wanted to do, and he was very transparent with all of that. In return, I was very open with him about what I wanted to achieve in my life and my career.
“I think we started our relationship on the right foot right from the beginning. He’s a very good man, personally and professionally. I can see that. He has a very clear vision of how he wants to do things, and he was very clear on how long he thinks that was going to take.”
Through it all, as Karlsson waited to see if he’d be moved last season, he took the high road, on and off the ice.
In the end, he became the sixth defenseman in NHL history to have 100 points, finishing with 101 (25 goals, 76 assists), and was voted the Norris Trophy winner as the League’s best defenseman. But the Cup is the prize he really covets, and San Jose (22-44-16) was nowhere close to reaching those heights, finishing 29th in the NHL standings.
Karlsson wants Sharks fans to know he gave his all, even when it was clear a playoff berth was not in the cards.
“I think I showed that with the season I had there,” said Karlsson, who has four points (one goal, three assists) in his first eight games with the Penguins. “People there were very good to me and my family, and we haven’t forgotten.”
Case in point: Harlow loves team mascots and received a visit from San Jose’s S.J. Sharkie at the Karlssons’ California home before they packed up and moved east. He brought a rose for the excited little girl, and the two played with toys together as part of the farewell.
“It will always be a special place for us,” he said. “For all of us.”
He’d like to think the fans at the “Shark Tank” know that. In the end, the real litmus test if they did and do, will come in the form of their reaction Saturday.
