Lost and found.
That’s one way to describe Erik Karlsson’s tenure with the San Jose Sharks.
Karlsson, traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, turned the page in his introductory press conference. But the 33-year-old also looked back at his time in San Jose with a mixture of fondness and regret.
“I found the joy in the game again,” Karlsson said of this past season, when he became the first defenseman since Brian Leetch in 1991-92 to top 100 points.
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The 2023 Norris Trophy winner credited the Sharks, in part, for that, and new head coach David Quinn.
“I had a lot of fun playing hockey last year, and coming to the rink every day, even though it wasn’t under the easiest of circumstances, and we didn’t win very many games. Credit to everybody who was in San Jose, from the coaching staff and my teammates there, we had fun together. We made it fun coming in and putting in the work. That was something that, looking back, probably was missing a little bit from the previous years,” he shared. “I had a great relationship with Quinny. I think he’s a fantastic coach, and he did some really good things for us in San Jose.”
