Nash Daily: Erik Karlsson Dealt to Penguins, Coyotes Add Dumba

Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas made a splash on Sunday morning, adding two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson via a three-team trade that involved two former Nashville Predators.

Trade details:

To Pittsburgh: Karlsson (San Jose retains 13 percent of his salary for the next three seasons), forward Rem Pitlick, forward Dillon Hamaliuk and San Jose’s 2026 third-round draft pick

To San Jose: Penguins 2024 1st-round draft pick (top-10 protected), forward Mikael Granlund, defenseman Jan Rutta and forward Mike Hoffman

To Montreal: Pittsburgh’s 2025 second-round draft pick, defenseman Jeff Petry (the Penguins will retain 25 percent of Petry’s salary), goalie Casey DeSmith and forward prospect Nathan Legare.

Grier, on #SJSharks focus in Karlsson trade, in addition to getting a first-round pick: "Having some cap flexibility and financial flexibility was really important for us going forward."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) August 6, 2023

San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng added how other interested teams asked the Sharks to retain a lot more of Karlsson’s salary but general manager Mike Grier said, “It’s something we didn’t really want to do.”

Granlund, who the Predators traded to the Penguins prior to David Poile‘s final trade deadline as Preds GM, is now joining his fourth team as he heads into his 12th NHL season. He scored 41 points last season between Nashville and Pittsburgh. He exits the Steel City having scored just five points in 21 games before being traded.

Pitlick, another former Predator, skated in just 11 games with the team before the Minnesota Wild claimed him off waivers in 2021. Nashville selected him 76th overall in the third round of the 2016 NHL Draft. He had six goals and 11 points in 20 games with the Wild before he was placed on waivers a second time. In 92 games with the Canadiens, Pitlick totaled 15 goals and 41 points while averaging 15:06 of ice time per game.

Around the NHL and National Hockey Now

ESPN: Out in the desert the Arizona Coyotes have added four defensemen to their lineup. Matt Dumba agreed to a one-year, $3.9 million deal with the Arizona Coyotes after sitting on the market since July 1. The Coyotes also added Sean Durzi, Troy Stecher and Travis Dermott on the back end.

Montreal Hockey Now: A familiar face in Petry is coming back to the Canadiens but he was packaged alongside DeSmith and Legare. While the Penguins are retaining $1,562,500 for the next two seasons on Petry’s deal, Montreal is adding back a known veteran and some support for goaltenders Samuel Montembeault and Jake Allen.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: While the Penguins are currently $79,342 over the salary cap, Dubas has dealt for a perennial Norris contender in Karlsson. They had originally started the day being $3 million over the cap ceiling of $83.5 million. Head coach Mike Sullivan will have a defensive corp of Kris Letang, Ryan Graves, Marcus Pettersson, and Pierre-Oliver Joseph. Now the question is can the Penguins be a Stanley Cup contender after the move?

Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter: @KieserNick