from Dave Molinari of Pittsburgh Hockey Now,

The sample size is small, just nine games, but the Pittsburgh Penguins figure that’s enough time to assess what Erik Karlsson can give them.

“He is the player we thought we were getting,” coach Mike Sullivan said.

Well, to some extent, anyway.

Karlsson’s offensive output, two goals and four assists, isn’t bad, but that’s nowhere near the pace that would be required for him to match the 101 points he put up in San Jose last season, when he earned his third Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman....

“I think there’s another level to his game,” Sullivan said. “We’re going through a little bit of a feeling-out process, but (Karlsson) is a guy who can drive offense. He can drive offense 5-on-5. He can drive offense on the power play. That’s what we envisioned when we acquired him.

“We’re working through a process here to try to capture his very best game. … We all have seen elements of his ability to drive offense. We’re hoping we’ll get a little more consistency with that throughout the course of a 60-minute hockey game, but he’s a guy we’re excited about having and we have to figure out how to maximize his ability level.”

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