I don't see Ek being a good fit in Carolina. Their d group is already loaded. They need a super star forward.

I see this making a lot of sense for Pits but not a lot of sense for Carolina.

Great trade for Pittsburgh, Horrible trade for Carolina. I know Burns did say he would’ve welcomed EK to Carolina back in the offseason, but Canes don’t need any more star Dmen. They already have Slavin, Burns, and Orlov.

The Pens can keep their mistake. Besides, Canes have no need for another dman.

Obviously Canes don't take this trade - but Pens mistake?

Averages almost 25 mins a night, 13th in Defense Scoring
https://hockeystatcards.com/skater?id=8474578
''Mistake''

If they are already considering moving on from EK, only, what, 3 months or so after acquiring him, would you not regard the acquisition a mistake? His success with the team is irrelevant.

Well I guess my counter to that would be that they aren't actually trying to move him. Also, if we're judging whether an acquisition was a mistake or not - I think his performance/success is pretty relevant.

If Dubas was just sitting on 10mil free cash in the offseason and he spent it all on Karlsson - I can understand people saying it wasn't a good move. But with his limited options it was definitely a good trade - don't think it can be considered a mistake.

EK is doing good for Pittsburgh but it was the antitheses of what they needed. They needed quality depth and good defense. EK isn’t either. The acquisition cost made it an easy deal to make too. A lot of layers to the deal

Mistake or not, to each their own.

Just a couple thoughts:

1) Pens absolutely needed offensive help from the blue line though - so Karlssons style of play was a need. They also signed Graves with the purpose of improving the defensive aspect, so that need was addressed as well, it's just Graves hasn't been very good.

2) They didn't have really any money to spend on good depth AND good defense. It's not like Dubas had 10mil in free cash that he spent on Karlsson. But I'd be open to hearing what Dubas could've done better if you think the trade was a mistake - maybe I'm just blinded by bias lol