Erik Karlsson does it again

[richo]

The most overrated player this sport has ever seen.

This is spot on. As a Sharks fan it is so hard to watch this guy game after game. He may be the worst defensive defenseman I've ever seen.

 

[TheAngryHank]

Man, that puck stopped dead on him. The ice for a lot of games this season has been atrocious. Of course, that doesn't take away from Karlsson being lazy.

If the zamboni was just out a small pool of water will stop a puck dead.

 

[Sun God Nika]

His child died in March, 2018. He had a good performance in 2019 considering he was playing injured (and Sharks were still a good team too).

He now has another child that's well and healthy. No doubt that it was a tragic, life-changing event but that doesn't excuse his performance right now.

I don't know why but this post just disturbs me. The way you're talking about a babies death and then evaluating the player and just saying he should be good. feels like ur missing a human element somewhere just can't pin point it.

 

[PAZ]

I don't know why but this post just disturbs me. The way you're talking about a babies death and then evaluating the player and just saying he should be good. feels like ur missing a human element somewhere just can't pin point it.

Sorry if facts disturb you.

Nobody is saying Karlsson should be a robot. Losing a child haunts many people for years, I'm sure Karlsson is no exception.

But there isn't any logical reasoning to say that his child dying 3 years ago is causing his poor play right now when he now has another infant, his wife, and the rest of his family to focus and spend his energy on. Even though Karlsson was injured the past 2 seasons, his body language still showed like he gave a damn. This year it doesn't, it's as simple as that.

 

[Amazinmets73]

The most overrated player this sport has ever seen.

Well, he was really good (albeit a little overrated) at his peak. Who thinks he's still really good now? Don't think he's overrated at this point.

 

[BWJM]

His child died in March, 2018. He had a good performance in 2019 considering he was playing injured (and Sharks were still a good team too).

He now has another child that's well and healthy. No doubt that it was a tragic, life-changing event but that doesn't excuse his performance right now.

I don't know why but this post just disturbs me. The way you're talking about a babies death and then evaluating the player and just saying he should be good. feels like ur missing a human element somewhere just can't pin point it.

This is the exact reason I can't stand Karlsson threads. There isn't one person in here that doesn't think the death of his child is tragic and horrible. People are allowed to say it isn't an excuse for him to pack it in on a 92 million dollar contract. He clearly has declined. This doesn't make someone a bad person.

 

[Sun God Nika]

This is the exact reason I can't stand Karlsson threads. There isn't one person in here that doesn't think the death of his child is tragic and horrible. People are allowed to say it isn't an excuse for him to pack it in on a 92 million dollar contract. He clearly has declined. This doesn't make someone a bad person.

Theres no issue with saying EK has declined, and I agree he isn't worth what he is being paid. I was just highlighting how that post seemed so desensitized to that tragedy with the poster implying since EK has a healthy wife and baby he should be all good mentally and move on. The post just sounded pretty f***ed up and I wanted to call it out.

 

[ruaware41]

His child died in March, 2018. He had a good performance in 2019 considering he was playing injured (and Sharks were still a good team too).

He now has another child that's well and healthy. No doubt that it was a tragic, life-changing event but that doesn't excuse his performance right now.

I guess we can’t ever truly know one way or another how much it impacted him. This stuff isn’t always so black and white and consistent year to year. It’s a lot more feasible to think that’s affected him in some ways than to think he’s packing it in because he got paid which just borders on straw man. Hockey fans make statements with such definitives. There could be a multitude of reasons a player struggles. Packing it in is just the easy answer to lean towards

 

[Rodzilla]

Ill always remember how he carried mostly average teams here in Ottawa and how he would control and impact a game. The playoff run to game 7 in the ECF.

I was hoping he’d bounce back this year but his pivots have taken a hit and there seems to be a lack of motivation or I dont know.

in Ottawa he had some solid seasons defensively. Obviously never a top gun but solid nonetheless and not nearly quite as bad as the people obsessed with him try to make it out to be. I am disappointed to see him struggle like that.

 

[hanshin44]

I think Karlsson was just another victim of that offensive defenseman obsession in the league a while back. Subban, Burns, and Karlsson got hyped up and overrated. Subban and Karlsson (and possibly Burns but I'm not sure) declined hard because of how dependent their game was on their speed, and that their hockey IQ was seriously lacking. I remember how absolutely godawful Karlsson played in Auston Mathews' debut.
It was always very odd to hear that EK was the next Lidstrom. Reminds me of when Mrazek was called the next Hasek.
I guess the league changed and now they actually want their defenders to be halfway competent at defending.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

I think Karlsson was just another victim of that offensive defenseman obsession in the league a while back. Subban, Burns, and Karlsson got hyped up and overrated. Subban and Karlsson (and possibly Burns but I'm not sure) declined hard because of how dependent their game was on their speed, and that their hockey IQ was seriously lacking. I remember how absolutely godawful Karlsson played in Auston Mathews' debut.
It was always very odd to hear that EK was the next Lidstrom. Reminds me of when Mrazek was called the next Hasek.
I guess the league changed and now they actually want their defenders to be halfway competent at defending.

His IQ was one of his biggest strengths, he hasn't rely on his speed since the Cooke injury in 2013...

The amount of terrible takes in this thread is pretty bad, even by HFBoards' standards...

 

[hanshin44]

His IQ was one of his biggest strengths, he hasn't rely on his speed since the Cooke injury in 2013...

The amount of terrible takes in this thread is pretty bad, even by HFBoards' standards...

His IQ has always been awful. It's just he put up points so people looked at his stats and said he was a great defender.
He's an albatross of player and has been slow as a boulder since that ECF run.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

He was never that bad defensively in Ottawa.

He made some gaffs, like everyone does when they have the puck a lot, and when recovering from his two big injuries while adjusting his game.

What I'm seeing on the ice is a guy who doesn't care anymore. One thing about Erik, he was always an emotional guy. He thought he was signing on to a contender, and that blew up in his face. I doubt his home life is any escape, either.

 

[Dust]

I don't think anyone would ever consider him above average defensively at any point in his career, but he was so dynamic offensively with Ottawa it would completely overshadow that part of his game. When you can create so much offense, it doesn't really matter if you're nothing special defensively.

 

[DingDongCharlie]

I’d like to say you could make/post highlights to make any player look like garbage but honestly when I’ve watched SJ games I can’t believe how lost he looks. Seems to give up on plays pretty consistently.

 

[DingDongCharlie]

Still better than Jack Johnson.

Which contract would you honestly rather have though?

 

[Samsquanch]

Subban , Karlsson, Letang and others have shown that offensive defenseman tend to have a shorter peak and thus fall off sooner than other types of defenseman.

I disagree.

They may have a shorter peak I guess, but defensive d-men with limited puck skills and/or skating abilities are always one bad leg injury away from being completely useless. And once they drop off in play, they sink like a rock.

As long as they can skate, an aging OFD can find a lot more ways to survive/adapt as an older player in the NHL versus a typical big bodied stay at home Dmen. Playing an entire 1000+ game career as a stay at home Dman is an incredibly rare thing to see.

 

[Samsquanch]

His IQ has always been awful. It's just he put up points so people looked at his stats and said he was a great defender.
He's an albatross of player and has been slow as a boulder since that ECF run.

This is a brutal take.

EK firing on all cylinders was basically a hockey genius. His vision and passing (ie a huge part of "hockey IQ" for most people) was his best trait, and he was able to make plays that only a small handful of others were capable of doing.

People have really short memories here. Karlsson and his dominance was not a mirage. Karlsson was a beast. Every opposing teams game plan revolved around trying to shut him down. You guys think Sens fans were full of it, but even Bob Mckenzie and most analysts agreed that he might be top 3 at his absolute peak as a player (2017 playoffs made it almost undeniable).


It is what it is now, but why try to take away from the great and unique talent that he was? He was an electrifying and a fun player to watch for anyone not hell bent on hating him..

 

[BurntToast]

I disagree.

They may have a shorter peak I guess, but defensive d-men with limited puck skills and/or skating abilities are always one bad leg injury away from being completely useless. And once they drop off in play, they sink like a rock.

As long as they can skate, an aging OFD can find a lot more ways to survive/adapt as an older player in the NHL versus a typical big bodied stay at home Dmen. Playing an entire 1000+ game career as a stay at home Dman is an incredibly rare thing to see.

I honestly think many defensive defenseman go under the radar because they aren’t sexy, but a lot of teams have their guy. I wasn’t just talking about them, the more balanced defenseman tend have high shelf lives because after their offense fades (which goes first) they are still decent defenseman. Josi, Hedman, and Pietrangelo come to mind, but let’s not forget about the OG Chára. Don’t get me wrong they fall off too, but it seems more gradual.

 

[foggyvisor]

The revisionist history on Karlsson's hockey IQ and defensive game are completely unnecessary. He was the best defenseman in the NHL for a stretch.

 

[TeamRenzo]

This is spot on. As a Sharks fan it is so hard to watch this guy game after game. He may be the worst defensive defenseman I've ever seen.

Terrible take. As a Sharks fan, I wonder how many Sens games you watched of EK in his prime

 

[fsanford]

still love this one. happier times for both sides

 

[PatrikBerglund]

This is spot on. As a Sharks fan it is so hard to watch this guy game after game. He may be the worst defensive defenseman I've ever seen.

He took part in two best on best international tournaments during his prime years - and was voted best defenceman in both.

Don't judge today's Karl and claim that has always been his level of play.

That's dishonest and frankly, dumb.

 

[RorschachWJK]

The revisionist history on Karlsson's hockey IQ and defensive game are completely unnecessary. He was the best defenseman in the NHL for a stretch.

He was the best rover for a stretch. Not the best defenseman.

 

[DieSendungmitderMaus]

He was the best player with his position listed as "D"

The fact that you can be the best player listed as a Dman while not being great defensively still befuddles many. They seem to believe there's some sort of official cutoff of level of D play a defenseman needs to bring to be considered the best defenseman when of course in real life, it doesn't matter if a players value comes from offense or defense. A defenseman who hangs around on the opposing blueline for 20 minutes a night but scores 15 goals a game would still be the best defenseman in hockey.

And to come back to Karlsson, he even made sure the Sens never had to do much defending when he was on the ice. I swear sometimes people when deciding who has the best defensive impact just look at who they'd take with a minute left in regulation and a defensive zone draw.