Yohe: Erik Karlsson is precisely what the Penguins could use

When I truly want to capture the pulse of the Penguins’ fan base, I conduct a Twitter poll. It doesn’t get more scientific than that, right?

At the time of this article being written, almost 12,000 of you had voted on a very simple question: Do you want Erik Karlsson in Pittsburgh?

Around 80 percent of you said yes.

This is relevant. How many times do 80 percent of us agree on anything?

Incidentally, I’m on board with the majority — so I’m writing this column for you 20 percenters, the non-believers. (The rest of you should keep reading, too.)

Let’s break this down. What are the Penguins goals, as an organization? In no particular order:

• To win the Stanley Cup
• To reach the postseason
• Tell sell tickets
• Along those lines, to be an entertaining product

All right, then. Let’s look at the big one, the Cup. You remember what it looks like, but it’s been six years since you’ve seen your favorite team skating around an ice rink with it.

Would Karlsson’s presence make the Penguins more likely to win the Cup?

Of course it would. In essence, you’d be replacing Jeff Petry with Karlsson, because if Dubas is able to pull off such a deal, we can pretty much guarantee that Petry and his big contract would be involved.

Petry isn’t a bum. He’s fine. He’s also no Karlsson, who produced 101 points in the signature season of his magnificent career last year. Adding Karlsson to this roster would produce an unmistakable jolt, which is precisely what the Penguins need. They were painfully stale last season. For the first time in the Sidney Crosby era, I sensed utter apathy from Pittsburgh toward this team. It was jarring. The fan base, by April, just wanted the season to end. I’m pretty sure the Penguins did, too.

Karlsson is pure electricity. A future Hall of Famer looking to mesh with a handful of other Hall of Famers? Yes, please.

The presence of Kyle Dubas has provided hope. But that locker room, and by extension the fan base, needs something to get excited about, some kind of spark. Karlsson is that guy. He’s a magician, a power-play genius, the greatest offensive defenseman we’ve seen since Paul Coffey. This is a franchise that only wins hockey games because of its ability to score. It’s in the DNA. This isn’t a team that’s ever going to 2-1 its way to a championship. The Penguins could have Karlsson or Kris Letang on the ice around 80 percent of the time. That means the Penguins would have the puck. A lot. Having the puck a lot is a good way to win a Stanley Cup.

You can’t win a Cup without reaching the postseason, of course. Karlsson would help in that regard, also. Say Letang gets hurt? Karlsson could handle all of the responsibilities. Say the bottom six struggles to score goals again this season, which seems like a pretty reasonable possibility? Well, with Karlsson on board, I’m not sure how often it would have to score. He’ll provide plenty of offense.

The Penguins were awful for stretches last season in three-on-three play. Well, how do you think they’ll do with either Letang or Karlsson on the ice at all times during overtime? Yeah, I think that will work, too. Don’t discount the few extra points that will give them by a season’s conclusion. The Eastern Conference isn’t for the faint of heart. After what we saw last season, the Penguins need real help. This will do.

We also tend to forget that this is the entertainment business. The Penguins are a worldwide brand and have a lot of money, but you saw the empty seats at PPG Paints Arena last season, too. We all did. I’m willing to bet that Karlsson would change that dynamic in a hurry, that a special kind of enthusiasm would be manufactured with No. 65 running the power play.

The Penguins are different than other teams and they have been for a long time. Other franchises sometimes win championships and showcase great talent. Then, there are the Penguins. Consider these names, starting in 1984: Mario Lemieux, Coffey, Mark Recchi, Kevin Stevens, Joe Mullen, Bryan Trottier, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Larry Murphy, Rick Tocchet, Luc Robitaille, Alex Kovalev, Crosby, Sergei Gonchar, Evgeni Malkin, Letang, Kessel …

You get the point. The Penguins are the Lakers of hockey. Or maybe the Globetrotters. Superstars run the show in Pittsburgh and the fan base, which is as loyal as it is spoiled, expects to be entertained by some of the greatest players to ever participate in the sport. In other words, Karlsson was made to be a Pittsburgh Penguin.

I know what the 20 percent of you who are against such a deal are thinking.

He’s old. The Penguins have enough old guys. 

Karlsson just turned 33. He’s not that old. And he just won the Norris Trophy, so it’s safe to say that he remains somewhere close to his prime. Also, he’s almost three years younger than Petry, who noticeably looked a step slower last season. So, while the Penguins would be adding another high-priced 30-something to their lineup, they’d be getting three years younger on the blue line (and they just got three years younger already with the 28-year-old Ryan Graves replacing the soon-to-be 32-year-old Brian Dumoulin.)

He stinks defensively.

Well, he’s not Larry Robinson, that’s for sure. But I’m not sure how terrible Karlsson is defensively. Oh, he’s not great in that regard, but my sense is that he was pretty checked out in San Jose while playing for the dreadful Sharks. This isn’t a compliment by any stretch, but I don’t think Karlsson would be a disaster in his own territory. Also, the idea of Letang and Karlsson freelancing on the right side is much more palatable when considering the steady defensive presences of Marcus Pettersson and Graves on the left side. The Penguins would instantaneously have one of hockey’s best groups of top-four defensemen.

Plus, as I noted earlier, Karlsson would help the Penguins generate untold amounts of offense. Look at their history. Look at how the team is currently designed. They are meant to win by overwhelming the opposition with offense. Crosby. Malkin. Jake Guetnzel. Rickard Rakell. Bryan Rust. Reilly Smith. Letang.

Karlsson.

Not many teams can match that kind of firepower.

Pulling off such a trade would be extremely difficult for Dubas. The Penguins don’t have any cap space (though they can easily create some) and they have only a handful of assets that might be of interest to the Sharks.

However, numerous sources have told me that Dubas remains intrigued by the idea of adding Karlsson, that the Penguins are still involved in talks with the Sharks. Dubas himself acknowledged last week at his press conference that he’s spoken with the Sharks about Karlsson.

Good for him. He should keep going.

The additions of Smith and a handful of solid free agents have made the Penguins a better team, a playoff team in all likelihood.

But Dubas wants more. So does Crosby. So does Mike Sullivan. So does an ornery fan base.

The ultimate goal is to win one more championship in the Crosby era. Sid turns 36 in a month. A wave of young, talented players isn’t coming and it won’t be for years. The idea of old man Sid winning a final championship with a bunch of talented, 22-year-old stars that represent the next, great wave of Pittsburgh hockey is a pipe dream. By the time that generation arrives, Crosby will be fishing in Nova Scotia and preparing his Hall of Fame speech.

Surrounding Crosby with talent is the best way to give him his storybook ending.

Karlsson isn’t a perfect hockey player, but he’s a great one. Players like him don’t come around very often, and they’re almost impossible to acquire.

Sure, it’s a risk. Karlsson makes a lot of money. Before this past season, he hadn’t been at his best in a while. And yeah, he isn’t good defensively.

But that’s OK. Some risks are meant to be taken. This is about a championship, about Crosby, Malkin and Letang giving Pittsburgh and the hockey world one more glorious run before the sun sets on their careers. The odds are against them ever winning the Cup again. That’s reality.

If ever a player existed who could join forces with them and go on a final run, Penguins style, it’s Karlsson.

The deal would be complicated. I’m told it would involve three teams and be complex. There’s a lot of money involved.

There’s a lot of talent, too.

Dubas has tried. It came close to happening on July 1.

It will be a great day for hockey in Pittsburgh if he pulls it off.