I really hate when Sens fans bring up Pre-Cooke Karlsson like he was way better. Karlsson is back to that form. Watch the games during Ottawas run, or his games in the playoffs. He was playing amazing, obviously, as it won him a Norris.
Karlsson dominated in 2013 for 2 reasons: half the players hadnt played a hockey game in 6 months, and Karlsson was in good shape after dominating in Europe. Ottawa only played Eastern teams, who even more so then now, were far weaker then the West. Only 5 of those games Karlsson played in 2013 were against playoff teams...
People bring it up... Because it is big freaking deal. Achilles injury is huge. Karlsson was better physically before the injury. He is still great.. And his experience and hockey sense makes him continue to get better and better...but still he lost some speed and mobility he will never get back. He can't skate like Orr or Coffey now. He is not quite as good.
It is like Selanne... He had his achilles injury after his 76 goal rookie year. He was never the same. Still was a HHoFer. Still was a deadly peak performer in the Kariya days... Still played almost 2 decades after the injury... But was never quite the same explosive skater he was before the achilles.
So yeah... It is not a cop out or an excuse to mention the injury. It will always have broken Karlsson. He will never be 100% of what he used to be again... Physically.
I guess you could argue he could be better in the long run because he learned to play smarter and not rely so much on his speed. I don't buy that at all. Karlsson always gets smarter and better and would always push himself.
Still it doesn't matter. He is still the best defenceman in the world, and he still always improves every season as he learns and is smarter and adapts to his injury as well.
I have little doubt 27, 30 and 32 year old Karlsson will always be an improvement on the earlier version. That's how HHOF defencemen roll.
