Penguins News: Erik Karlsson will be ready for opening night

Defenseman Erik Karlsson will be good to go for the Pittsburgh Penguins' first game of the season against the New York Rangers on October 9th. Karlsson hasn't played at all this preseason for Pittsburgh due to an undisclosed upper-body injury but is now good to go.

Erik Karlsson needs to have a bounce back year.

Don't get it twisted, Karlsson had a good year with the Penguins. 56 points while playing in all 82 games is a very solid season.

But Karlsson has more in the tank than that. Maybe expectations were too high after his 101-point season, but a 45-point drop-off had to be a little underwhelming for Penguins fans.

The Pittsburgh powerplay was one of the biggest disappointments with the team last year. The Penguins' powerplay was at a measly 15.27%, which was third worst in the NHL. With all of the hype that was around Pittsburgh's power play last year with the addition of Karlsson, that is one aspect that the Penguins must make improvements to.

The Penguins as a team never looked like they built chemistry together last season. No player seemed to be on the same page, yet they only missed the playoffs by three points, although Sidney Crosby went on an absolute tear at the end of last year. If not for that, Pittsburgh probably would've been eliminated much earlier.

Time is running out for the core of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Although the Penguins signed Sidney Crosby last month, the core of the Penguins got another year older. The Penguins have said for years they want to win one more Stanley Cup with Crosby. The winning window of the team is probably the length of Crosby's extension, which is two years.

Two more years to compete for a Stanley Cup with one of the best players in NHL history. Pittsburgh should do everything in their power to get back to the finals, that's the least they owe to Crosby with everything he's done for the franchise.