Even Erik Karlsson makes fun of the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs

The rest of the hockey world tends to have fun with the Toronto Maple Leafs’ struggles, so the 2025-26 season — especially the last three games — has provided plenty of fodder, and on Sunday it was a fellow NHL player who took a playful swipe at them.

After Paul Bissonnette – a noted Maple Leafs fan – and the rest of TNT’s NHL crew said before the game that Pittsburgh could be in trouble in their afternoon affair against Vegas, the Penguins turned the tables and defeated the Golden Knights 5-0.

Their guest during the postgame interview was Erik Karlsson, who informed Bissonnette that he heard what he said before taking a dig at the free-falling Maple Leafs and urging him to jump on the Penguins bandwagon.

Karlsson said:

“I heard what he said before this game, I heard that I don’t like that… I wanted to ask Biz what I need to do to recruit him to get on our train, because I think he’s going to hit a brick wall soon. We need you to come over to this side a little bit… Penguins train, Biz – the Penguins train. You gotta get off the other one,”

The 35-year-old Karlsson is having his best season as a Penguin, both statistically and according to the eye test, with 38 points (four goals, 34 assists) in 54 games.

He is in year seven of the eight-year, $92 million contract originally signed with the Sharks in 2019, of which Pittsburgh will pay $10 million, thanks to San Jose retaining $1.5 million annually.

Funnily enough, despite Pittsburgh being twelve points ahead of Toronto in the standings, they had a huge battle against them this regular season. The Penguins dropped all three games in regulation to the Maple Leafs, outscoring them 17–8.

If the two teams were just playing each other, they might be in drastically different positions – but luckily for Pittsburgh, and unfortunately for Toronto, that’s not the reality.

While Karlsson is having a good time right now, the Penguins still have a lot of work to do to get the job done and make the postseason for the first time since 2021-22, especially with Sidney Crosby out for a month. That said, this is the best team they’ve had in a long time, and if their first three games without a captain are any indication of things to come, playoff hockey is returning to the Steel City.

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