The Pittsburgh Penguins have made arguably the biggest move of the summer by acquiring reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, and now, he's revealed his thoughts for the first time since the blockbuster move.
No shortlist?
Over the past few weeks, Karlsson was linked to Pittsburgh, Carolina, Toronto and Seattle, but at the end of the day, it was the Penguins and Kyle Dubas who were most aggressive in their pursuit.
While most stars give their team a short list ahead of a trade, Karlsson reveals he didn't do anything like that to land in Pittsburgh, but was excited about the opportunity to play on a contending team.
I was very excited about the opportunity to have a chance to go somewhere where I could be on a team who's contending.
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The ultimate goal
Ultimately though, when he found out Pittsburgh were involved, he knew that's where he wanted to be, because the ultimate goal at the end of the day is still to win a Stanley Cup, something that's been done a lot in Pittsburgh.
(Winning the Cup), it's always been the ultimate drive. I think for myself, I like to play the important games and be on successful teams and have success collectively as a group. I've played against Pittsburgh many times and lost to them a few times when they went on to win the ultimate prize. That's something they know how to do here, and the players that they've had here for a long time are still really good players. I'm excited to step into that group and learn a lot of things, and hopefully bring some new things and help them become even better.
It's unclear whether or not this move makes them a genuine contender again, as the East is stacked with talent, but they're going to be tough to beat with Karlsson's offensive talent, and they should be fun to watch all season long.
As Read on Hockey Feed - Erik Karlsson explains why he picked Pittsburgh over any other team
| POLL | ||
9 AOUT | 163 ANSWERS Erik Karlsson Reveals why Pittsburgh was his ideal landing spot Can this team win the Stanley Cup in 2023-24? | ||
| Yes | 78 | 47.9 % |
| No | 85 | 52.1 % |
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