San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson continued his historic season Monday by becoming the first defenseman since Brian Leetch in 1991-92 to register 100 points in a regular season.
The Swedish defenseman notched goal No. 24 in the first period to get him to the 99-point threshold. Then, in typical Karlsson fashion, he fired a powerplay goal home from Tomas Hertl to reach the 100-point milestone. Karlsson continues his resurgence season and is now up to 25 goals and 75 assists for 100 points in 80 games.
As hockey historian Paul Pidutti put it, “Erik Karlsson has had the greatest point-producing season of the salary cap era by a defenseman. To take it further, it’s the single best era-adjusted output for anyone not named Bobby Orr or Paul Coffey since The Great Depression.“
Karlsson is also one of the favourites for the Norris Trophy, something he has won twice in his career and been a runner up for two more times.
Among defensemen to score 100 points in a regular season, he joins the likes of Bobby Orr (139), Paul Coffey (138), Al MacInnis (103), Denis Potvin (101) and Leetch at 102.
Orr notched 100 points six times throughout his career, and Coffey did it five times.
Last season, Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi was on 100-point watch; he ended the year with 23 goals and 73 assists for 96 points in 80 games.
After Monday’s performance, Karlsson now sits 10th among NHL skaters in the points department and sits third league-wide in assists trailing Nikita Kucherov and Connor McDavid.
In fact, among defensemen, he sits 27 points ahead of second place Dougie Hamilton.
The 32-year-old is currently in year four of an eight-year $92M contract extension he signed with the Sharks in 2019. The contract has a cap hit of $11.5M.
