Golden Knights Make Perfect Sense For Penguins' Erik Karlsson

Ever since entering the league in 2017, the Vegas Golden Knights have always been one of the most aggressive teams when it comes to acquiring top players. The Golden Knights’ fierce front office tactics have paid off in huge ways, with seven playoff appearances in eight years of existence, including a Stanley Cup championship in 2023.

That aggressive nature took another step when the Golden Knights landed Mitch Marner from the Toronto Maple Leafs before he could hit the free agency market. Marner likely isn’t the last move of the offseason for Vegas, but there is one more huge swing they might want to consider taking.

The Golden Knights are going to be without top defenseman Alex Pietrangelo for at least the 2025-26 season and likely beyond. Without Pietrangelo, the Golden Knights have a hole to fill on the right side of their top defensive line.

After a pair of seasons, it’s clear Erik Karlsson is not working out the way the Pittsburgh Penguins had hoped. Karlsson’s name has appeared in trade rumors again, and a move seems possible this offseason.

Thanks to a full no-move clause, Karlsson will ultimately decide if and where he is moved to, but the Golden Knights should be an attractive destination.

With Pietrangelo doing down, Karlsson could step in and be a top-line defenseman right away. Even at 35, Karlsson still shows glimpses of having what it takes to be a top blue liner.

Karlsson has yet to win the Stanley Cup in his Hall of Fame career, and the Golden Knights are a team that clearly goes for it every season. Their addition of Marner is a key example of their drive to win.

The Golden Knights are running low on salary cap space, but the Penguins would surly be more than willing to retain on some of Karlsson’s contract if Vegas threw in a little sweetener. Karlsson is down to the final two years of his contract and the Penguins aren’t ready to utilize every dollar available to them in the salary cap. Eating some of Karlsson’s deal wouldn’t hurt the Penguins in the long run.

It won’t be easy for the Penguins to ship out Karlsson, no matter where he wants to go, but Vegas would be a perfect destination. A spot is opening up on their top pairing and they are always aggressive when it comes to shooting for championships.