{"id":509157,"date":"2026-03-18T06:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/509157\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T06:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:22:13","slug":"penguins-want-to-keep-erik-karlsson-anthony-mantha-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/509157\/","title":{"rendered":"Penguins Want To Keep Erik Karlsson, Anthony Mantha \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the beginning of the 2025-26 season, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Pittsburgh Penguins would trade Erik Karlsson<\/a> and use Anthony Mantha<\/a> as a half-year rental before dishing him at the trade deadline. Now, according to Josh Yohe of The Athletic<\/a>, the Penguins want both players on their opening night roster for the 2026-27 campaign, if not longer.<\/p>\n

Before this season, Karlsson looked like a shell of himself, far removed from the Norris Trophy campaign during the 2022-23 season with the San Jose Sharks. From 2023 to 2025, Karlsson scored 22 goals and 109 points in 164 games with a -20 rating, averaging 23:45 of ice time per game. Additionally, his 87.2% on-ice SV% at even strength last season was the worst of his career.<\/p>\n

Although that\u2019s typically respectable production from a puck-moving defenseman in his mid-30s, it didn\u2019t justify his $11.5MM salary, $1.5MM of which was being paid by the Sharks. It was particularly his drop-off defensively that had the writing on the wall in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

However, under head coach Dan Muse<\/a>, Karlsson has found new life. He\u2019ll finish with similar point totals this year, but he\u2019s been much more responsible in the defensive zone. His 53.8% CorsiFor% at even strength is the best he\u2019s had since he was 28, and his 89.7% oiSV% at even strength is right on line with his career average.<\/p>\n

According to Yohe, instead of trading Karlsson this offseason, the Penguins may look to extend him for a few more years. It would be an interesting gamble, given that Karlsson will be 37 for his next contract. However, if he maintains his production level and assumes a significantly lower salary, it might not be a bad idea.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mantha has made the most of his one-year, $2.5MM prove-it deal in Pittsburgh. After losing much of the 2024-25 season due to an ACL injury, Mantha has rebounded in a big way, scoring 26 goals and 52 points in 67 games for the Penguins.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, as Yohe points out, Mantha is only 31, meaning he\u2019s not necessarily old by NHL standards. It\u2019s unlikely that the Penguins will engage in a bidding war if Mantha makes it to the open market this summer, but a four-year deal shouldn\u2019t be out of the question given how he\u2019s played this season.<\/p>\n

Regardless, as much as the influx of youth has benefited Pittsburgh this season, its top five scorers are in their 30s. They\u2019re a primary reason that the Penguins are poised for a postseason run for the first time since the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the beginning of the 2025-26 season, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Pittsburgh Penguins would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[10448,642,5,4,100],"class_list":{"0":"post-509157","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-anthony-mantha","9":"tag-erik-karlsson","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116248742079010395","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}