I have some bad news to pass along. This morning, Erik Karlsson was placed on long term injured reserve. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
This is… not good. Erik Karlsson has been excellent this year and is the glue that has held the entire defensive depth chart together. Without him, games are going to be more of a struggle as Karlsson does so much heavy lifting with the Pittsburgh Penguins ability to transition and attack.
Here we go again
If you are surprised by this news today, so am I. Erik Karlsson played the entire game against the Boston Bruins on Sunday afternoon. There were was no evidence of a potential injury in the game. In fact, Karlsson played the final 3:02 of the game per the NHL’s shift chart
Unless Karlsson was injured in a practice we have yet another example of a Penguins player finishing a game and landing on IR immediately thereafter. It is a frustrating trend that has spanned many years and many players.
Another frustrating aspect of this is the vagueness of the information given. We are inundated with a sickening amount of gambling ads and content both during the broadcast and during commercials. How is there not more transparency surrounding injuries in this league yet? Seems like the league is having their cake and eating it too on this front.
Make or break time
This next two weeks without Erik Karlsson very well may be the make or break portion of the season. Here is what the Penguins schedule looks like during the next two weeks:
There are some gettable games here. The Western Conference in general has been a joke this season. Then you have two divisional games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers. The Eastern Conference standings are packed together and extended losing streaks are going to be pretty painful. Once you fall behind other teams it is tough to make up ground. Just look at what the Maple Leafs are dealing with
I ask you to draw your attention to the far right side of the standings chart. That is the record for each team the last ten games played. The Leafs have gone 8-0-2 taking 18 out of a possible 20 standings point. Yet, when you look at their other division rivals they’ve barely made a dent because those teams are piling up points as well.
It is so tough to make up points and pretty easily to slip back in the standings. The Penguins have lost two in a row and now face a Tampa Bay Lightning team who are undefeated in their last ten games. There is a very real possibility without Erik Karlsson we could see another losing streak from the Penguins in the upcoming stretch. This stretch has the potential to derail the season, unfortunately.
Next man up?
We are going to find out just how important Erik Karlsson has been to the roster this year. He’s been tremendous and covers up a lot of the warts the team has.
I respect the players and his head coach saying that they need to step up in his absence, but with players of Erik Karlsson’s caliber it isn’t “next man up”. You just aren’t replacing what was lost.
Some players, you just can’t navigate their absence. Right now, Karlsson is one of those players for the Penguins. I would even assert that losing Karlsson is harder to deal with than if Sidney Crosby were to be out of the lineup.
Aside from the on-ice impact this injury will have on the Penguins winning games this is going to dramatically affect their watchability. Karlsson has been sublime this year and is one of my favorite parts about watching the current team.
We are going to see what this team is made of, starting tonight against Tampa Bay
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