Erik Karlsson

Last Season

Fifteen goals and 51 assists in 75 games — 66 points, plus-eight, at 23:36 a night. His 1,159th career game and his 936th point.

The Finesse Game

The skating is still remarkable at 36 — he changes direction at speed with the puck and escapes forechecks that should have him trapped.

Fifty-one assists from a defenceman is a top-three figure at the position. The shot is a genuine weapon from distance: 289 unblocked attempts, median 50 feet, and fifteen goals out of it, which for a point shot is an extraordinary conversion.

Seven hundred and twenty-one career assists.

The Physical Game

Six foot even and 185 pounds, and it has always been the criticism. Twenty-two penalty minutes. He does not clear a crease, does not win a net-front battle, and defends entirely by having the puck instead.

The Intangibles

Fifty-one point four per cent of the expected goals, 66th percentile, and 53.4 per cent of the shot attempts, 83rd, across 1,291 minutes.

Twelve points in his last ten, four of them goals.

Three Norris Trophies and a career that has been argued about for fifteen years. On a Pittsburgh club that finished fourth in the league at generating even-strength offence, he and Letang are both still playing more than twenty-one minutes at thirty-six and thirty-nine, which is either remarkable or a roster problem depending on what the club thinks it is.