Is Erik Karlsson still a top 5-10 dman?

[Slimmy]

Yeah, about that...

Who cussed out Erik Karlsson?

Oops!

 

[Ronnie Residue]

Train wreck defensively. Just brutal out there. Very good offensively obviously but nowhere near the talent of guys like Hedman and Doughty who are great at both ends of the ice.

lol what a dumb take.
Do you ever actually watch him play? He is far from a train wreck defensively. You do realize that being an offensive defenceman doesn’t automatically make you horrible in your own end? Give your head a shake. I’m not claiming he’s a god in his own end but train wreck is beyond hyperbole.

 

[Bleedred]

Yes.

Regardless of what his pundits will tell you, his slow start to his season does not all of a sudden erase his entire body of work before now.

Thanks for acknowledging this in the first post! Not trying to be a smartass, I'm being sincere.

Far too often on this forum we judge players by a smaller and more recency bias and sample size. It's pretty annoying.

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

Another point tonight and he's looked very comfy out there.

 

[Mackinnonen]

Sharks fans, which one of Burns and Karlsson has been better?

 

[gretskidoo]

If Crosby can get a 10 year "grace period", I'm sure we can afford to give other stars a season or two.

 

[NyQuil]

Train wreck defensively. Just brutal out there. Very good offensively obviously but nowhere near the talent of guys like Hedman and Doughty who are great at both ends of the ice.

I like how there's a train horn in this clip.

 

[CupsOverCash]

I wonder how he would have been in Tampa if that trade would have went through.

 

[NorthCoast]

Does anybody believe in advanced stats here or is this just a thread where we all throw out opinions based on the eye test after watching T$N highlights from the west coast games we didn't actually watch.

Unless you have developed different advanced stats that are more accurate at predicting future performance...then these stats say he is playing pretty dominant hockey and with a little more puck-luck, Karlsson would be right back near the top of scoring.

Don't care for advanced stats, how about just a basic stat like shooting %. The leading D-Man for Points has an 11.9 shooting %. EK has a 1.9%. That's a difference of 9 goals this year already. And it's not about shooting style. Reilly has had periods where he shot at 2% and EK has had periods where he has exceeded 10%...that's called puck-luck.

 

[Silencio]

“That's me,” confirmed Karlsson. “I ‘mother****’ myself 15 times a game.”

The idea that Dillon would go bat**** on Karlsson with a 5-1 lead and 30 second left...

Yeah, now that I think about it I have seen EK slam his stick on the ice/yell at himself in similar situations. Makes sense it would be him.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

He looked excellent out there last night IMO. At least half the game I watched. I was slightly surprised at how grindy that Sharks Stars game was.

 

[wetcoast]

Let’s make it simple. Can you name ten defencemen who you would rather have over Karlsson?

Yes I can so he isnt top 10 for me.

Part of that is his cap hit.

 

[filinski77]

Yes I can so he isnt top 10 for me.

Part of that is his cap hit.

His cap hit is only like $6.5 mil this season, for a top D-man in the league that's amazing

 

[robertmac43]

Yeah he is 100% still in that ranking. The sports world is too quick to change their mind on things!

 

[34]

Not this season. He has been sub par.

 

[CaptainShark]

Not this season. He has been sub par.

He had a rough start which is kind of understandable… he has been great ever since!

Edit: I have watched all but one or two Sharks-games

 

[OVrocks]

Pronger right up there though, nobody like him in the league right now.

Someone like Pronger would be suspended 81 out of 82 games in today’s NHL.

 

[PatrikBerglund]

Sharks fans, which one of Burns and Karlsson has been better?

I would like to know this too. Usually the guy with most points is the answer from fans.

 

[SnizzNasty88]

I think he's extremely overrated, terrible defensively, world class offensively but not showing it right now. There are easily 10 dmen I'd take over him:

Doughty
Burns
Josi
Pietrangelo
Hedman
Jones
Subban
Suter
Carlson
Weber

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I like how there's a train horn in this clip.

It's a good thing Karlsson would never get walked by Larkin like that.

 

[wetcoast]

His cap hit is only like $6.5 mil this season, for a top D-man in the league that's amazing

Even when he was on the top of his game offensively he still wasn't the guy I wanted for a deep playoff run. He was always a better fantasy guy than NHL guy.

Like I said there are 10 guys I would take before him going forward.

I mean does anyone think he has been better than Burns this season?

 

[Mattb124]

Sharks fans, which one of Burns and Karlsson has been better?

Burns has been better, but that isn't to say Karlsson has been bad. Burns has just been really good so far this year, shades of the year he won the Norris.

Karlsson seems to have largely adjusted to the new team (and the team to him) and is coming on. Based on his recent play, I expect him to have a really strong second half. Having said that, he won't have the latitude in the current system that he did with OTT and he is having to share PP time with Burns, so his production likely won't approach OTT levels.

 

[PatrikBerglund]

Even when he was on the top of his game offensively he still wasn't the guy I wanted for a deep playoff run. He was always a better fantasy guy than NHL guy.

Like I said there are 10 guys I would take before him going forward.

I mean does anyone think he has been better than Burns this season?

Did you watch the last time Ottawa was in the playoffs, one goal away from reaching the finals?

Who was the best player in the whole playoffs, on one leg?

 

[theMajor]

I like how there's a train horn in this clip.

I live for the cherry picked arguments/videos on this forum and miraculously Im never disappointed

 

[Hi ImHFNYR]

Yeah but Carey price is still Carey PRICE and while one can remain good can they remain great after a fall off, and by great I mean elite, which is what my question was.

And I don’t think it should take a guy thAt good an entire season to get his “overcoming A trade” (In reference to your if next year then....) but I agree he’s still got the tools I’m just not seeing it this year.

It's actually fascinating when you look at each individual season of Carey Price how woefully inconsistent he has been. Stringing together two elite seasons skews a lot of opinions on him imo.