Mark Madden: To make playoffs, Penguins need different kind of impact from Erik Karlsson

Erik Karlsson’s brief tenure with the Penguins has been odd. The reigning Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s best defenseman has not made enough positive impact in the areas it was logically assumed.

Karlsson’s statistics are fine: 22 points, plus-9 in 32 games. His advanced stats are good, too.

Karlsson is prone to the occasional mind-numbing turnover. Risk is part of his game. He’s committed 30 turnovers total. Not great, but not paralyzing. (Evgeni Malkin leads the Penguins with 36.)

Karlsson is a stand-up guy and positive locker room presence. Nothing sinister is going on.

Even if president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas had got literally nothing in return instead of Karlsson, the cap hits and useless flesh he fobbed off on San Jose made that trade worthwhile. Karlsson can be flipped to a contender in the future if it comes to that. (It will.)

But the Penguins’ power play ranks 27th in the NHL with a 13.7% conversion rate. That’s rotten.

The power play’s failures have often been spectacular, such as mangling zone entries for the entire two minutes. Or just refusing to shoot. (The PPG Paints Arena crowd yelling “SHOOT!” during a power play is a cliché. It’s also often good advice.)

The Penguins are 1-3 in three-on-three overtime. They’ve also gone to the shootout three times, winning two. So, the Penguins have failed to win six times out of seven during three-on-three OT.

Karlsson, at minimum, was supposed to fix the power play and help dominate overtime. The former because he’s the best power-play point man of his generation, the latter because the Penguins figure to always have Karlsson or Kris Letang on the ice for three-on-three.

It hasn’t worked out that way.

It had yet better, or the Penguins won’t make the playoffs.

Karlsson isn’t solely to blame for the Penguins’ three-on-three inefficiency. The Penguins rarely practice three-on-three, which seems a damaging factor.

But Karlsson is often the worst part of the power play, which seems crazy to say. Karlsson just won’t shoot. He passes constantly, ignoring prime opportunities to launch the puck. The opposing penalty-kill settles into a rhythm of playing Karlsson to pass, all but negating the man-advantage.

Karlsson needs to listen to the citizens when they yell “SHOOT!”

This isn’t to scapegoat Karlsson for the Penguins’ subpar performance to this point, or their uninspiring place in the standings. Plenty has gone sideways.

Defenseman Ryan Graves has been sorely disappointing. He’s president of the “be big, play small” club. Drew O’Connor and Radim Zohorna also hold memberships.

Rickard Rakell can’t score.

Malkin has one goal in 11 games. At 37, has Malkin hit a wall?

Reilly Smith doesn’t look like he wants to be in Pittsburgh. (I’d rather be in Las Vegas myself.)

But Karlsson is an elite player who isn’t delivering what he’s supposed to. I expected, after victories, to often cite Karlsson as a big reason the Penguins won. That hasn’t happened.

Karlsson needs to figure it out soon, because the Penguins need to figure it out soon.

They’re five points out of a playoff spot. That doesn’t seem like a lot. But in the era of the loser point, it is. It gets late early. The Penguins must jump over five teams.

Understand the task at hand. Because it’s difficult.