The Pittsburgh Penguins had the perfect opportunity to complete an Erik Karlsson trade this weekend. On Sunday, they finally got the deal over the line. Pittsburgh acquired the 33-year-old star defenseman in a three-team trade with the San Jose Sharks and Montreal Canadiens. After the deal was announced, Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas took to Twitter to share his reaction.

This trade included nine players and three draft picks changing hands. The Penguins acquired forwards Rem Pitlick and Dillon Hamaliuk along with a 2026 third-round draft pick in addition to Karlsson.

Dubas moved out a fair few members of the Pittsburgh roster to acquire the reigning Norris Trophy winner. The team sent forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Jan Rutta to the Sharks. And they sent defenseman Jeff Petry, defenseman Nathan Legare, and goalie Casey Desmith to the Canadiens.

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Finally, the Penguins traded a couple high draft picks to facilitate this move. San Jose received a conditional 2024 first-round pick, while the Canadiens received a 2025 second-round pick from Pittsburgh. The 2024 first-round pick going to the Sharks is top 10 protected.

Despite acquiring the most expensive player in the trade, the Penguins actually freed up cap space here. In fact, they are only around $79K over the salary cap as of now. Pittsburgh can place Jake Guentzel on long-term injured reserve to begin the season, freeing up over $5 million in cap space.

In the end, the Penguins received the best player in this trade. And they signaled their desire to go for another Stanley Cup while Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang are still around. Let's see if the Erik Karlsson trade helps Pittsburgh win hockey's biggest prize in the summer of 2024.