Elliotte Friedman Links Penguins Veteran Defenseman to Florida Panthers

Coming into the off-season, the Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to get younger, and as a result, the trio of Erik Karlsson, Bryan Rust and Richard Rakell are all considered pieces that General Manager Kyle Dubas could move.

That trio were recently addressed by Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast, and reportedly, the story on all three is very different, with the team needing to work through different situations if they would like to move all of them.

On Karlsson specifically, Friedman noted that the heavy bonuses in Karlsson's deal have all been paid, and while the AAV on his deal looks high, as a result of this, he comes in at a very affordable price.

As a result, this opens up Karlsson as an option for many different contenders in the league looking for an upgrade, and to the surprise of no one, the NHL's top insider linked the former three-time Norris Trophy winner to the defending Champion Florida Panthers.

Friedman does note that he's not sure how the money would work this season, and with the NHL cracking down on the usage of the LTIR loopholes, they may not be able to make it work, but if there's any team in the NHL that could, it's certainly this loaded Panthers team.

Ultimately, it's likely that Karlsson is on the move this off-season, and while the Panthers would need to pull off a miracle to land the veteran, don't be surprised if they used their only assets remaining to land a replacement for Nate Schmidt as they go for three straight Stanley Cups in 2026.