When talking potential trades, fans want to swap all of their team’s bad players for all of the other team’s good players. Fantasy gets presented as potential fact but is foiled by the opposition GMs not being stupid.

But Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas actually made that trade, or close to it. (Maybe Dubas gave himself the extra title of GM this past Thursday to inspire himself.)

Dubas got Erik Karlsson from San Jose. Karlsson was last year’s Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defenseman. He is signed through 2027 at a cap hit of $11.5 million. (The Sharks retained $1.5 million of that.)

In return, Dubas ditched four players he didn’t want: forward Mikael Granlund, defensemen Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta and goaltender Casey DeSmith. That’s a combined cap hit of over $14 million.

By the time the machinations of the deal were totaled, Dubas saved the Penguins $3 million in cap space.

The only real assets the Penguins surrendered were first- and second-round picks. They didn’t give up a top prospect, of which they have very few. (Two, maybe.)

Dubas mostly undid the idiocy of Ron Hextall’s tenure as GM in one trade — and got Karlsson, who had 101 points last season for a team than won 22 games and lost 60.

When I first heard about the deal, I thought it was a joke. If somebody had called my radio program proposing that trade, I’d have ridiculed them and hung up.

I can’t believe Dubas pulled it off.

It’s a great trade, but guarantees little.

The Penguins are still an aging team with questionable depth that hasn’t won a postseason series since 2018 and missed the playoffs last year. Top winger Jake Guentzel had ankle surgery Wednesday and won’t be ready at season’s start.

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Acquiring Karlsson offers hope, but not without risk. Karlsson, 33, wasn’t great in the four seasons before last. Often injured, he didn’t play more than 56 games in any of those four years.

Karlsson isn’t a defensive stalwart. More like a fourth forward. The Penguins will concede lots of chances on his watch. He was minus-26 last season.

Goalie Tristan Jarry better be ready to earn every penny paid in his new contract and not worry about stats. A 6-5 win is still a win.

But with Karlsson, the Penguins should make the playoffs and could win playoff series.

It’s great optics. The new GM pulled a blockbuster trade and added another superstar. That’s going to sell tickets and merch. (No. 65 Karlsson jerseys already are available.)

Stylistically, Karlsson is a perfect fit. He’s a born Penguin. He creates offense. Karlsson is fast. Dubas just traded a whole heap of slow.

Karlsson and Kris Letang will man the right side of defense for a combined 46 to 50 minutes per game. One of them always will be behind either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, maximizing their capacity to attack off the rush.

Like Letang, Karlsson is a one-man breakout. The Penguins won’t often get trapped in their own end.

If the Penguins let him, Karlsson will fix their power play. It should go from being a big glob of clumsy, underachieving meh to being one of the NHL’s best five units. The Penguins haven’t had a true quarterback up top since Sergei Gonchar left in 2010. Karlsson is a terrific man-advantage playmaker with brilliant, quick instincts.

Positioning on the power play will mean a lot. Who plays where. Watch this space.

The Penguins had eight wins and 10 losses in three-on-three overtime last season. Having either Karlsson or Letang on the ice for three-on-three should enable the Penguins to do much better, though a more focused approach is required. The Penguins play three-on-three like it smells bad.

Karlsson’s production won’t make up for Guentzel’s absence early in the season. But it will help.

Sure, the Penguins sacrificed two high draft picks. But it’s never been more about right now.

Dubas didn’t need to use a buyout, which (in Granlund’s case) would have burdened the Penguins’ salary cap with dead money for the next four seasons.

Getting Karlsson might produce nothing. It could be folly.

But the Penguins, like always, are trying their best to win.

Hey, Fenway Sports Group: Since you’re in a winning mood, get Liverpool FC at least one more midfielder. Like Romeo Lavia from Southampton.

Get Dubas to make the deal if need be. If Dubas can get Karlsson at that price, let him take a shot at acquiring Lavia.

Dubas is a miracle worker. He might even be able to fix the Pirates.

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