Last summer, the Sharks moved quickly to get a pair of core players locked up as soon as the window to sign contract extensions opened up as they inked defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and goalie Martin Jones to long-term deals. It appears they may be heading down that route again this summer as Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (subscription required) that talks on a new deal are progressing with center Logan Couture and that they’re hoping to have a deal done for July 1st, the first day an extension can be made official.
The 29-year-old has been a fixture in San Jose’s lineup for the better part of the last decade after they made him the ninth-overall selection back in 2007. He’s coming off of a career year in goals (34) and adapted well when he was asked to spend some time on the left wing. Couture is set to earn $6MM in 2018-19 and will undoubtedly get a raise from the Sharks on this new contract.
Elsewhere around the league:
- Still from LeBrun, the Jets have yet to begin contract talks with pending UFA center Paul Stastny. The 32-year-old played a key role for Winnipeg in their postseason run but with Mark Scheifele and Bryan Little locked up long-term, it’s hard to imagine there’s room for him unless they find a way to move a sizable contract out. Stastny is set to hit the open market as the top pivot not named John Tavares and will draw plenty of interest around the league.
- Among the pieces that the Hurricanes are interested in from Chicago in their trade talks regarding defenseman Justin Faulk and goaltender Scott Darling is winger Brandon Saad, reports Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. The 25-year-old failed to have the type of impact the Blackhawks were hoping for when they reacquired him last year as part of the Artemi Panarin trade. However, after averaging 51 points over the previous four seasons, it’s reasonable to expect that he will have a bounce-back campaign in 2018-19, something that Carolina likely believes as well.
I doubt Chicago would trade saad this summer. It’s too quickly to give up on him, given how important he was to the hawks the first time around, not too mention the hawks most likely want to salvage whatever they can from the saad-panarin swap last summer. It’s also highly likely saad bounces back to being a 50-60 point player with a solid two-way game as well.
They cant salvage anything by keeping Saad. It was an awful deal at the time and we all knew it. Trade him for someone else to salvage it
That’s not true at all. Saad is still young enough and was a great player before the trade occurred. You have to give him another season at least. He won’t outscore Panarin, but that’s not what was expected of him in the first place
Thats the whole point. Saad is not a better player. They intentionally downgraded a forward and their reason was cap space and chemistry with Toews.
You’re right that saad isn’t a better player if you look at points only. He won’t outscore Panarin, but he does many things Panarin didn’t. He plays a 200 foot game, which is value added even if he can’t produce offensively. If he can get back to the player he was before last season, this deal won’t look as bad. Not only is saad signed longer than Panarin, he’s not as one dimensional as the bread man was.
Agreed. Simply scoring doesn’t mean that Panarin is a better player. We can obviously argue whether he is or isn’t a better player, but that isn’t the point.
He’s better at some things, but Saad is better at other things. Saad is a two-way player. Panarin absolutely is not.
Too early for the Hawks to give up on him, as well. He will come around next season.
And I’m not defending bowman or saad either. Bowman is an idiot and needs to go. But you have to give saad the benefit of the doubt given his past seasons prior to 2017-2018.
I agree Saad is a better defender and 2018 was not his true self. But his ceiling is a 50 point range player. Panarins ceiling is around 80. Are those 30 extra points worth better defense? Id say no. Panarin and Kane on the same line was lethal. When he left it took an element out of the Blackhawks that made them so good. I know its not the whole reason they missed the playoffs, but it for sure played a role