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Erik Karlsson

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Erik Karlsson

Erik Sven Gunnar Karlsson (pronounced [ˈêːrɪk ˈkɑ̌ːɭsɔn]; born 31 May 1990) is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Karlsson was drafted in the first round, 15th overall, by the Ottawa Senators at the 2008 NHL entry draft, with whom he spent his first nine NHL seasons; he has also played for the San Jose Sharks. Karlsson is a three-time winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman, winning the award in 2012, 2015, and 2023.

Karlsson made his Elitserien debut for Frölunda HC on 1 March 2008, recording 8:48 of ice time during a sold out home game in Scandinavium against league leaders HV71. Karlsson scored the game-winning goal, assisted by Tomi Kallio and Magnus Kahnberg, with a slap shot in overtime during a man advantage. The win secured a playoff berth for Frölunda with three games remaining in the regular season.[citation needed]

Karlsson finished the season with Frölunda's J20 team playing in the J20 SuperElit playoffs, where Frölunda took home the Anton Cup when they won, two games to one, against Brynäs IF's J20 team in the Swedish Junior Ice Hockey Championship final.[citation needed]

Prior to the 2008 NHL entry draft, Karlsson was ranked fourth among European skaters by the NHL's Central Scouting Service. He was ultimately drafted 15th overall by the Ottawa Senators in front of their hometown fans at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. The selection was made by Ottawa's captain Daniel Alfredsson, a native of Gothenburg, who played for Frölunda before entering the NHL. Then-Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray traded Ottawa's first-round pick, 18th overall, and their third-round pick in 2009 to the Nashville Predators in exchange for the Predators' first-round pick, 15th overall, to ensure that no other team would select Karlsson before them.[citation needed]

A few weeks before the 2008–09 Elitserien season premiere, Frölunda announced that Karlsson was brought up to the senior team as a regular roster player.

In September 2009, Karlsson attended the Senators' training camp ahead of the 2009–10 season. On 29 September 2009, the Senators announced that Karlsson had made the team's NHL roster. Karlsson made his NHL debut on 3 October, against the New York Rangers, and recorded his first NHL point, an assist.[citation needed] After struggling in nine regular season games with Ottawa, he was assigned to the team's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Binghamton Senators. On 27 November 2009, exactly one month after being sent down, Karlsson was recalled from Binghamton. He would score his first NHL goal against the Minnesota Wild's Niklas Bäckström in a 4–1 win for Ottawa on 19 December 2009, and would remain in the NHL for the remainder of the season and play in all of Ottawa's 2010 Stanley Cup playoff games.[citation needed]

Karlsson was selected to participate in the 2011 NHL All-Star Game, set for 30 January 2011, at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, having recorded 25 points in 41 games.[citation needed]

The 2011–12 season saw Karlsson continue his development. On 16 December 2011, with his third assist of the night, Karlsson registered his 100th regular-season NHL point (in 168 games) in a game against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins. Karlsson was the NHL's leading vote-getter in All-Star voting, receiving 939,951 fan votes and becoming one of four Senators players selected to partake in the 2012 NHL All-Star Game. Karlsson finished the season as the leading scorer among NHL defencemen, leading second-place Dustin Byfuglien and Brian Campbell by 25 points. Karlsson was being mentioned as a James Norris Memorial Trophy candidate, if not the favourite for the award. During the season he set a new Senators franchise record for points in a season by a defenceman (previously held by Norm Maciver) with 78.[citation needed]

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