The Golden Knights and Sharks have agreed to a deal sending all-star center Tomáš Hertl, a 2025 third-round pick, and a 2027 third-round pick from San Jose to Vegas in exchange for center prospect David Edstrom and a 2025 first-round pick, reports Darren Dreger of TSN. The Sharks are retaining 17% of Hertl’s contract, making his cap hit for the Golden Knights $6.75MM.
It’s a true shocker of a deal, given that the Sharks had given no previous indication of selling off their number-one center, who is under contract through 2030. Hertl, 30, had a no-move clause in his deal that he waived to accept a trade to Vegas. He’s on injured reserve after undergoing knee surgery last month but is expected back before the end of the regular season. Before the injury, Hertl had 15 goals, 19 assists and 34 points in 48 games, which led the Sharks in scoring at the time.
While Hertl will be an incredibly important on-ice factor for the Golden Knights in their effort to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, the financial aspects of this deal are also highly consequential. With captain Mark Stone on long-term injured reserve, as well as former starting goaltender Robin Lehner, the Golden Knights have been able to bring in three major targets in Hertl, top-four defenseman Noah Hanifin, and winger Anthony Mantha, albeit with salary retained on all of them by their former teams.
Hertl will be eligible for LTIR after the trade call goes through, but the Golden Knights must have cap space to add him to their active roster before doing so. As of now, they don’t have said space. Per CapFriendly, the team has $5.5MM in their LTIR pool – roughly $1.25MM short of what they need to acquire Hertl. To execute this trade, the Golden Knights will likely assign forwards Byron Froese and Mason Morelli to AHL Henderson briefly, bringing them down to 10 forwards and seven defensemen on the active roster. Their cap hits equate to $1.54MM. The trade will then go through, allowing them to remain cap-compliant while absorbing Hertl’s $6.75MM cap hit before placing him on LTIR, backdated to when he last played in late January, at which point they can bring Froese and Morelli back up. That won’t solve all of Vegas’ problems, though, as they’ll need to free up that space again to take Hertl off LTIR before the end of the regular season.
Hertl can play both center and left wing, although he’s likely to remain down the middle (or on the wing alongside William Karlsson) for the Golden Knights as they attempt to shore up their second line behind Jack Eichel. Chandler Stephenson is amidst a down season, posting 38 points in 59 games with uncharacteristically poor defensive impacts. Hertl is an underratedly competent two-way player, and he should help round out their offense enough to counteract Stephenson’s regression and allow him to drop to a third-line role.
The Prague-born center has remained a consistent two-way force even as the Sharks’ roster has crumbled around him, producing at least 0.70 points per game in every season since 2018. Remarkably, he’s managed a -2.5 expected rating on this year’s Sharks, the first time he’s posted a negative in that stat in his career. That rating was the second-highest among full-time Sharks skaters, save for Ryan Carpenter. He also had a 46.6 CF% at even strength, 4.9% higher than the Sharks’ overall CF% without Hertl on the ice.
Meanwhile, the Sharks have made the surprising choice to use up all three of their salary retention slots for the time being, preventing them from being third-party brokers for any draft-day deal. All three spots will also be occupied next season, as they’re still retaining salary on the contracts of Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson. Burns’ deal expires in 2025, but Karlsson’s lasts through 2027, so only one retention slot will open next summer.
They do land a nice prospect in Edstrom, although the return seems underwhelming considering the length of time they’ll be on the hook for a portion of Hertl’s salary – especially considering they conceded two third-round picks in the trade. Edstrom was the last pick of the first round of last year’s draft, and has posted 17 points in 42 games while on loan to Frölunda HC in the Swedish Hockey League. He projects as a relatively safe high-floor, low-ceiling third-line pivot. The Golden Knights signed him to an entry-level deal over the summer, and he’ll be an RFA in 2026.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie was first to report that Hertl was heading to Vegas.
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was first to report that the Sharks were retaining a portion of Hertl’s salary.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Going to be beautiful when Vegas misses the playoffs while Hertl and Stone are sitting healthy on LTIR
That would be awesome
So basically the Knights are acquiring everyone. Wow.
Loopholes are allowed for american teams, yet canucks get cap recaptured for a frontloading when It was allowed
How can they possibly be in on every big name player out there? Are they going to acquire mcdavid and mackinnon too? Maybe add Matthew’s to the mix? That should leave them just enough cap space to nab kucherov and pastrnak, right?
everyone you just mentioned in one trade, each team gets a third rounder that’s 30 years in the future
To a division rival… better be a hell of a return. I will puke if ever have to see that beautiful human in that awful gold bucket.
Woof!
How is it the only people that vent about no cap for the playoffs are fans? Owners, players, GMs, coaches don’t care. We are fools!
It’s cause the GMs know that VGK will face a 10 year rebuild when their windows open. Fans just thinking about next week.
Because it’s literally the rule that the owners, players, GMs, and coaches all agreed to. And any team can do it if they feel like it.
Complaining about no cap in the playoffs is essentially complaining about offsides existing. It’s a rule everyone agreed to.
because why would players complain? a cap in the playoffs would mean that guys would be paid less on contracts. coaches don’t care because they aren’t going to say “I could win with that team but not with my team”
GMS won’t complain because for those that can afford it, they don’t mind paying the extra salary, and those that
can’t, they will gladly take the pick to facilitate another team taking on money.
We understand it’s the rule that was agreed to & the money involved etc…do you still think it’s fair to have 1 team in the Cup final with a payroll potentially 15m more than the opposing team? I don’t. The league shouldn’t have different rules for payroll/cap regular season vs playoffs. Only pro league that allows it. They need to fix it.
Yes. I think it’s fair. Because it’s the rule, that all 32 teams play by. That’s how rules work!
Also. MLB doesn’t have a cap AT ALL, and 3/4 of the league doesn’t have a chance before the season even begins. And both the NBA and NFL have weird exceptions to their cap rules also that allow them to go over the cap to sign certain guys in certain spots. The NHL isn’t unique in this; it’s just that NHL fans seem to complain way, WAY more about it than fans of other leagues, which is weird because from where I’m sitting, the NHL’s system is far and away the best of the four major American sports.
I don’t like that there is a cap in any league tbh. & point to me the time an nba or nfl team won a title under similar circumstances. It’s already happened a few times in a short amount of time in the nhl.
I hate baseball’s system, largely because I’m a lifelong fan of a small market team that doesn’t stand a chance. I love that in the other leagues, small markets like Carolina and Pittsburgh and Tampa and Kansas City have a real, live chance. Baseball’s system creates small windows where every couple decades, one team can get lucky, but nothing is sustainable. Heck, this conversation about Vegas would be absurd in baseball/a situation without a cap, because Vegas is a tiny market. The point is without a cap, you create a whole other set of problems that in my view are much, MUCH worse than anything we could talk about with the NHL.
And yeah, of course the NHL’s system is unique so I can’t point to an exact parallel in other sports. But the NBA has long had funny business for contender leading up to the playoffs, and even different cap rules based on different players. There’s a reason stars can all go to whatever team they want, and then add at the deadline, so the playoffs are five super teams and a bunch of pretenders. It definitely happens, and it’s definitely how champions are built.
Also: I’m not a Vegas fan. But it sure seems like this anger is about a lot more than LTIR. No one blinked or even noticed with Toronto used LTIR to make a trade yesterday. It seems like people hate Vegas for various reasons. Which is fine! And understandable! But I don’t think the NHL rules are the issue at all.
I get where you’re coming from & respect you are a rules guy. This one just seems like something they need to fix.
I guess it’s easy when your Gm has a last name of McCriminal
People are out here poo-pooing Mike Grier for some reason, but I think folks are forgetting this dude has now moved out two mammoth contracts that were preventing the team from rebuilding with VERY LITTLE cap retention.
He was brought in to rebuild, and he’s doing exactly that. The rentals were rented, huge contracts were moved out, tons of picks and prospects coming back. This is how you get it done!
He traded an existing market rate contract for an allstar to effectively move up 30 places in the draft, twice. And retained significant salary for years to come. Disgusting asset management.
Are you sure about that fam? 17% of Hertl’s contract. 25% of Karlsson’s. If you think those contracts were gonna help the team rebuild – and if you think Karlsson could repeat 22/23 – you are completely out to lunch.
Tell me you are happy trading Hertl away to move up in the draft and get no other assets? VGK get 3 pieces including the marquee all star and SJS gets 2 pieces. Trading the first pick in the 3rd round for the last pick in the 1st. Again, tell me you are happy that Hertl allowed us to move up 30 places in the draft? Absolute highway robbery by VGK. Grier should be fired for the way he mismanaged EK65 and now this. Meier he got a C+. He’s hopeless.
How many Cups did Hertl win?
I’m fine with trading him. This is how the long rebuild works. Worked for Pittsburgh, worked for Chicago, it’ll eventually work here too. If you don’t wanna watch the team lose for a few years, fine. Seeya. But after, what, 13 consecutive years of strong finishes, I’m totally okay with the Sharks having a recession. We’re talking about a team that was elite from 2007 to 2019ish. No team can sustain that forever. Especially not with $11.5M committed to an inconsistent, frequently injured defenceman.
Edit: Should add too, the Sharks are my favourite team. Still are. Panthers are my second favourite. Jackets are third. At any given time, at least one of those is winning. Usually. XD
Let me help with some further perspective. That retained salary on Hertl costs $1.5 million per year until… wait for it… 2030!!!! 7 seasons of salary retention. The going market rate for an in betweener to take on salary like that for a single season is a 3rd/4th round pick EACH TIME. Now that option is off the table for all those years cause you only get 3 slots. And in return for that salary retention SJS gets… oh that’s right, nothing.
Irrelevant. You are talking about the rebuild to avoid addressing the trade which is what this is. Convince yourself with whatever means you like. This will be a Buffalo style rebuild, not a Pittsburgh or Chicago rebuild. The type of rebuild you are looking for requires a competent GM.
He can’t keep getting away with it!!!!!
Edstrom doesn’t appear to be that big of a prize either……His #’s are not noteworthy this past year.
Greir is just clearing the roster.
What a joke. It’s a prospect and only 1 first for hertl and 2 thirds?!?! AND retention?
This is exactly why the rule needs to be changed.
It feels like it’s bad for the league at this point. Tanking is still rewarded and loading up on injured stars is perfectly OK. So if a team like vegas (or TB, maybe even COL this year) is going to sit a (injured?) player until the playoffs begin there needs to be a penalty of some sort. Easiest way to make that happen is to just enforce the salary cap rule that applies the entire rest of the year, no?
This is the result of revenue sharing. A team doesn’t have to sell tickets (which requires being competitive) to make ends meet any longer.
Have chimed in on this before, but this is extremely unlikely because players are not compensated for postseason play as part of their base salary
I understand that Josh, and I understand that teams should be able to use cap space created by LTIR, and I understand that cap numbers are not as cut and dry as most people think (hence the constant AHL shuffling and things like that). What I take issue with is that the state of the league and this rule, or lack thereof, has created an environment where vegas has been able to find a massive loophole. It’s not like this situation is going to be available every year, but shouldn’t there at least be some sort of regulation on how a post season roster is constructed? What stops this from evolving into “hey Ovi, Sid, and Pavelski, I know you’ve recently retired, but why don’t you sign with us and go on LTIR for that hangnail you had last week and we’ll miraculously cure your ailments come playoff time?
Maybe a bad analogy, but I think you get my point.
vegas is run like carolina corporate america way . no loyalty to anyone but themselves. Like their wives. Always have 35-40 year old wife. 25 year old girlfriend on side like Trump ,jagger ,rod stewart . LOL
So SJ a rebuilding team will not have a salary retention slot available till 2028.
Based on the retention, this return seems really light
What does Mike Grier have to do to finally get fired?