The Pittsburgh Penguins took a big swing this past offseason when they acquired defenseman Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks.
At the time, it seemed like a no-brainer move.
Not only was Karlsson coming off a Norris Trophy winning season that saw him become the first defenseman in three decades to top the 100-point mark, but it also cost them almost nothing of significance.
All they had to give up was a conditional first-round draft pick, a prospect and almost all of the bad contracts leftover from the Ron Hextall era (Mikael Granlund, Jan Rutta, Casey DeSmith, Jeff Petry).