Pittsburgh’s three-game road trip through California begins in San Jose, making it a homecoming of sorts for Erik Karlsson and Matt Nieto, who both spent portions of their careers with the Sharks.
The Penguins acquired Karlsson from San Jose in a three-team trade this past summer after a Norris Trophy-winning season with the Sharks, where he picked up 25 goals, 76 assists, and 101 points. Overall, he played nearly 300 games from 2018-23 with San Jose, a rebuilding franchise that’s been going through some struggles, which is what led to Karlsson being traded in the first place.
“There's more positives coming from my tenure here than the negative. So, I'm happy to be back,” Karlsson said. “I'm still in contact with a lot of these guys, and friends that I have here that I’ll have for life. At the end of the day, I wish nothing but the best for everyone that's still here. Because I know that even though things are not looking the best maybe right now, they're going somewhere that's going to be for the better, and you're going somewhere with purpose. It’s just going to need some patience and some time.”
Now, Karlsson is part of a group that features some of the game’s all-time greats. He joked that there are a lot of things he knows about the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang that Karlsson wishes he knew when he played against them.
“I think the group of guys here and the culture and how they handle things and how they handle themselves, I think has been really easy to get accustomed to and kind of just fall in that,” Karlsson said. “I've learned a lot of new things that I've benefited from already. So, it's been an unbelievable experience. They're all great people off the ice, they're genuine people, and they work hard at their game. So it's been really fun, and it's made me keep up a little bit, which is nice.”
In his first campaign with the Penguins, Karlsson has two goals and six points through nine games played, skating on a pairing alongside Marcus Pettersson and anchoring the top power-play unit. Head Coach Mike Sullivan said that while they are still going through a feeling-out process when it comes to maximizing what Karlsson brings, his ability to drive offense is evident – it’s just a matter of finding more consistency with that throughout the course of a 60-minute hockey game. Karlsson believes that will come with time.
“We have a fairly new team in there. I'm not the only new guy. There's a lot of new faces,” he said. “It feels like every day, everything gets a little bit easier. It's kind of hard to explain exactly what that is, but it does, and we're starting to speak each other's language without having to say much. So, I think it's going to be a growing process for us.
“I think we’ve had a pretty good start, I think we feel pretty good about ourselves, even though we haven't gotten the results that we would have liked. But you know, I'm hopeful that these times are going to benefit us in the end.”
Another one of those new faces is Matt Nieto, selected by San Jose in the second round (47th overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft. The California native played the first four seasons of his NHL career with the Sharks from 2013-17 before returning to San Jose in 2020 after a stint with Colorado. He split last season between the Sharks and the Avalanche, who brought him back at the trade deadline.
“It’s nice to be back, you know?” Nieto said. “San Jose was my first team in the NHL and they drafted me, and this is kind of where I got my start. So, it’ll always be a special place, and I always enjoy coming here to play, and seeing old teammates and familiar faces. Me and Karl are going out to dinner with a handful of guys tonight, so it’ll be nice to catch up with those guys.”
Both teams are going to be hungry heading into Saturday’s matchup, as the Penguins have dropped three in a row and five of their last six. And not only are the Sharks winless in their first 10 – going 0-9-1 – they are coming off a brutal 10-1 loss to Vancouver on Thursday night.
“I’m sure they’re not happy after what happened the last game, and just their start in general,” Nieto said. “So, I think we can expect them to come out with their best game. We have to come out that same way. We’re not happy with where we’re at either, so we have to make sure we’re ready to play when the puck drops.”
Nieto has had a new linemate for the past couple of practices, with Vinnie Hinostroza slotting in next to him and Noel Acciari, which means Jeff Carter will likely be a healthy scratch against the Sharks.
“I think it’ll be good,” Nieto said. “Vinnie’s a real good player and he’s got speed, he’s got the ability to make plays and score. So I think he’s going to do great, and I’m looking forward to playing with him.”
Here is the workflow the Penguins used during their practice at Sharks Ice on Friday:
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Smith-Malkin-Rakell
O’Connor-Eller-Zohorna
Nieto-Acciari-Hinostroza
Graves-Letang
Pettersson-Karlsson
Shea-Ruhwedel
Carter skated on the extra D-pair with P.O Joseph.
