- According to Tom Gulitti of the NHL, the San Jose Sharks are expecting defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic back before the conclusion of their current six-game road trip. An upper-back injury has prohibited Vlasic from debuting in his 19th NHL season up to this point in the NHL calendar. His return will give a slight boost to the surprisingly solid left side of the defense for San Jose.
[SOURCE LINK]
Sharks Rumors
Afternoon Notes: Sheary, Talbot, Celebrini, Hughes
The Tampa Bay Lightning have reassigned Conor Sheary. He was called up on Saturday to serve as the 11th forward in Tampa’s 5-3 loss to Toronto. He managed no scoring, three shots, and one hit in 12:18 of ice time. Sheary’s was on his first call-up since passing through waivers and being assigned to the minors on October 24th.
This season has awarded Sheary his first AHL games since 2015-16. He’s made 11 appearances with the Syracuse Crunch, recording three goals and seven points – good for seventh on the team in scoring. He’s fallen a long way over the last two seasons, recording just 15 points in 57 games with Tampa Bay last season – and not managing any scoring in four NHL games this year. That scoring skid has pulled the rug from under him, defaulting Sheary to a minor-league role just two seasons after he played in all 82 games for the Washington Capitals. He scored 15 goals and 37 points in that season – one year after a 19-goal, 43-point year. That production is more than enough to uphold an NHL roster spot, but it’s yet to translate to Tampa Bay. Sheary will look to continue his hot scoring in Syracuse, and take better advantage of his next shot at the Lightning lineup.
Other notes from around the league:
- Detroit Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot left the team’s Sunday game early with a lower-body injury, shares Helene St. James of The Detroit Free Press. Talbot was relieved by Ville Husso, marking his first NHL game sine November 9th. Husso went on to save 15 of the 18 shots he faced. Head coach Derek Lalonde didn’t have any updates on Talbot after the game, though he did mention that Talbot pulled himself from the game. St. James went on to mention that Detroit would be down both of their top-two goalies, should Talbot miss extended time, with backup Alex Lyon missing the last three games with an undisclosed injury. The pair of injuries would push Husso back into the starting role that he lost at the beginning of the season, but Detroit would still need to recall a body to fill-in as backup. Top goalie prospect Sebastian Cossa has earned the lion’s share of AHL starts, recording eight wins and a .929 through 13 games this season. He would be a great, high-upside recall – but Detroit could also turn towards veteran Jack Campbell for spot starts. Campbell has yet to make his season debut after starting the year in the NHL Player’s Assistance program
- Star San Jose Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini has won November’s ‘Rookie of the Month’ after scoring seven goals and 12 points in 14 games. He becomes the first Sharks rookie to win the award since Tomas Hertl in 2013-14. Celebrini has bounced back incredibly well from a string of nagging lower-body injuries holding him out of 11 games earlier in the year. He has eight goals and 14 points in 15 games this season, on pace to score 38 goals and 66 points through 71 games. Achieving that scoring would make Celebrini the highest-scoring rookie in Sharks history, beating out Pat Falloon’s 59 points in 1991-92, and Logan Couture’s 56 points in 2010-11.
- Superstar Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes has achieved a more notable milestone out West, setting Vancouver’s record for all-time assist from a defenseman. Hughes clinched the superlative with the lone assist on a Jake DeBrusk’s first goal on Sunday. He’d go on to assist DeBrusk’s next two goals as well, in the latter’s first hat-trick as a Canuck. The scoring brought Hughes up to 313 assists in 388 games, pushing him past the 310 assists that Alexander Edler recorded in 925 games with Vancouver; nearly three-times as long as it took Hughes. At his current rate of 0.81 assists-per-game, Hughes would need 1,025 career games to pass Henrik Sedin’s franchise record of 830 assists.
Sharks Place Barclay Goodrow On IR, Recall Ethan Cardwell
The San Jose Sharks have placed forward Barclay Goodrow on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. He left the team’s Wednesday night loss to the Senators in the first period. Goodrow took a high hit from Ottawa’s Ridly Greig in his first shift and only played through three more 30-second shifts before heading back to the locker room. San Jose made no indication of what specific injury Goodrow suffered, though he’s had bad luck with head injuries – going on a liquid diet for a month after blocking a shot with his face in a game against Ottawa last December. He’ll miss San Jose’s next three games, at least, with this new IR designation.
Goodrow has struggled to find his footing with the Sharks, standing with just two goals in 25 games this season. He’s recorded 31 shots on net, earning a 6.5 shooting percentage – ranked in the bottom 25 of all forwards to score at least one goal this season. It continues his struggling scoring from last year, when Goodrow posted a 6.6 shooting percentage with four goals in 80 games. Despite the snakebite, he’s still offering meaningful veteran value to a young Sharks lineup – filling a routine role on the second unit of both special teams. San Jose is expected to slot Givani Smith in the lineup in Goodrow’s absence, meaning special teams minutes will need to be distributed around the lineup’s younger options.
In a corresponding move, Ethan Cardwell has been called back to the NHL lineup. He’ll step into the role of extra forward but could work his way into the lineup with an extended recall. Cardwell played in the first three NHL games of his career earlier this season, going without any scoring but recording three shots and five hits. He’s recorded one goal and seven points in 13 AHL games this season, slightly below the scoring pace of his 43-point rookie year last season.
Pacific Notes: Granlund, Karlsson, Pietrangelo, Helenius, Moverare
San Jose Sharks forward Mikael Granlund will miss his second straight game and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury (as per Sharks beat writer Curtis Pashelka). The Sharks leading scorer took part in the team’s morning skate but will not play tonight against the Ottawa Senators.
Granlund is in his second season with San Jose and continues to produce offense with nine goals and 15 assists in 23 games. The 32-year-old likely won’t be out for long which is good news for the Sharks as Granlund is almost a certainty to be dealt before the NHL trade deadline.
In other Pacific Division notes:
- The Vegas Golden Knights tweeted that forward William Karlsson and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo should play tonight’s against the Colorado Avalanche. Karlsson missed the first eight games of the season with a lower-body injury but missed Monday nights for the birth of his second child. The 31-year-old has been solid since returning to action, posting six goals and four assists in 13 games. Pietrangelo suffered an upper-body injury on November 20th in Toronto and has sat out the last three games. He has had a terrific start to the season, with 14 points in his first 19 games.
- The Los Angeles Kings have recalled forward Samuel Helenius and defenseman Jacob Moverare from the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League (as per AHL Transactions page). The Kings have made several paper transactions with the two players as of late, trying to do what they can to maximize cap space. The 22-year-old Helenius has dressed in six NHL games this season for the Kings, posting two assists while averaging just over nine minutes a game. Moverare has gone scoreless in four games this season for Los Angeles, averaging a tick over 12 minutes of ice time per game.
Sharks Recall Jack Thompson, Reassign Yaroslav Askarov
Defenseman Jack Thompson is staying on the San Jose Sharks roster after all. After reassigning Thompson yesterday evening to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, the organization announced they’ve recalled Thompson while sending goaltender Yaroslav Askarov back down to the AHL.
Thompson has been an effective blue-liner for the Sharks in his second year with the organization. He’s scored two goals and five points in 13 contests while averaging 15:55 of ice time per game. He’s third behind Jake Walman and Timothy Liljegren amongst defensemen with a 46.6% CorsiFor% at even strength and leads Sharks’ defensemen with a 92.7% on-ice save percentage in all situations.
He won’t land on many lists of top prospects for San Jose but Thompson is already developing into a serviceable two-way defenseman. He may even see his ice time climb to around 18 minutes per night should the Sharks move on from pending unrestricted free agents, Cody Ceci and Jan Rutta, by the end of the season.
With all due respect to Thompson and his solid start to the year, the headline of this transaction is surely Askarov. He’s not only the top goaltending prospect in the Sharks pipeline but remains one of the best goaltending prospects in the league.
San Jose acquired Askarov this past offseason for a package including Vegas’ first-round pick in 2025 and former first-round pick of the 2023 NHL Draft David Edstrom. Askarov debuted with the Sharks on November 21st due to an injury to netminder Vitek Vanecek.
He played phenomenally in two starts, managing a 1-0-1 record while posting a .927 save percentage and 1.96 goals against average. San Jose wants more seasoning in the AHL for Askarov where he’s already collected a 6-3-0 record for the Barracuda this season with a .939 SV% and 1.92 GAA. The team will likely wait closer to the 2025 trade deadline before making Askarov a full-time NHL netminder after peddling pending UFA’s Vanecek and Mackenzie Blackwood on the trade market.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: San Jose Sharks
Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t often see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2024-25 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We’re currently covering the Pacific Division, next up is the Sharks.
San Jose Sharks
Current Cap Hit: $81,214,232 (below the $88MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
G Yaroslav Askarov (one year, $925K)
F Macklin Celebrini (three years, $975K)
F William Eklund (two years, $863K)
F William Smith (three years, $950K)
D Jack Thompson (one year, $828K)
Potential Bonuses
Askarov: $850K
Celebrini: $3.5MM
Eklund: $850K
Smith: $850K
Total: $6.05MM
Celebrini is off to a good start to his career though injuries have cost him playing time already. While that won’t hurt in the long run, it could make a Calder Trophy push a little harder which is one of the potential ‘A’ bonuses, of which he has four of. While it’s still extremely early, the Sharks are hoping that he’s their top center of the future and we’ve seen the price tag for those players hover around $8MM per season, an amount that will probably need to go higher by the time this deal is up.
Smith has stayed healthy early on but has struggled in his first taste of the pros. While they’re probably unconcerned long-term and still view him as the second option behind Celebrini, this start likely takes him out of reaching most, if not all of his ‘A’ bonuses. If he lives up to his potential, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Smith in that $8MM range on his next deal. Eklund had an impressive first full NHL season last year and is on a higher pace this year. They’re hoping he has top-line potential which could get him in the $8MM range long-term as well although the fact he’s primarily being deployed on the wing could shave a little off his price tag.
Thompson was seeing regular action for the Sharks after an early-season recall before today’s demotion, albeit primarily on the third pairing. If he can reclaim that roster spot before too long, he could land in the $1.3MM range on a bridge contract in the summer.
Askarov has already signed his second contract and we’ll get to that later on. For this section, let’s focus on the bonuses. Given that he was just recalled this week and that they’re running a three-goalie rotation, it’s hard to see him playing enough to reach any of his four ‘A’ bonuses. He needs to get to 1,800 minutes (or 25 appearances with at least 30 minutes of playing time) to have a shot at qualifying for them.
Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level
G Mackenzie Blackwood ($2.35MM, UFA)
D Cody Ceci ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Mikael Granlund ($5MM, UFA)
F Klim Kostin ($2MM, RFA)
F Luke Kunin ($2.75MM, UFA)
D Jan Rutta ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Givani Smith ($800K, UFA)
F Nico Sturm ($2MM, UFA)
G Vitek Vanecek ($3.4MM, UFA)
F Fabian Zetterlund ($1.45MM, RFA)
Granlund opted to sign with the Sharks in 2023 on what amounted to a pillow deal to try to rebuild some value. He might have done just that. With an expanded role, he reached the 60-point mark last season and is producing more than a point per game in the first quarter of this season. As far as straight value goes, the Sharks have done pretty well with this deal. How things go on his next contract remains in some question, however. While Granlund is playing well in a top-line role, he’s not a top-line center on most teams and he has struggled with lesser roles at times in the past. With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising if his market wasn’t as strong as his numbers might indicate although another deal around this price point should be doable.
Kunin was a speculative non-tender candidate after a down showing last year but the two sides settled on this deal. He’s capable of being a versatile utility forward but hasn’t been able to produce with enough consistency thus far. Still, someone who can play all three forward positions, kill penalties, and play with an edge will be of interest on the open market and a contract around this price point on a multi-year agreement could happen. On the flip side, Kostin has not played well in either season of this contract and is more of a depth forward than a regular one. His 2021-22 efforts appear to be the outlier at this point and as a result, most of his offers in the summer are likely to be at the league minimum or very close to it.
Sturm was primarily a depth player before joining San Jose but became a capable middle-six option over his first two seasons which had him on track for a decent raise next summer. However, his early-season usage has him back in his old spot on the fourth line which won’t help his market. That said, given the demand for middlemen, he could still get a small increase on his next deal. Zetterlund wound up with a bridge deal after struggling upon being acquired in the Timo Meier deal. His first full season with the Sharks was a strong one with 24 goals and 20 assists and he’s on pace to eclipse those numbers this year. With arbitration rights, he’s on pace to triple this deal at a minimum if he can keep it up. Smith, meanwhile, has been more of a depth player over the years and is likely to stay around the league minimum again on his next deal.
Ceci was acquired from Edmonton in a cap-clearing move mid-offseason. He’s getting an opportunity to play a bigger role but most teams know his best role is in more of a fourth or fifth role. As someone who is a right-hand shot and can log 20-plus minutes a night, another deal in this range for a few years is a likely outcome. Rutta’s first season with San Jose last year wasn’t bad in a third-pairing role but he has struggled this season. If things stay as is, he probably won’t be able to land this much in the summer if he winds up playing a role on a team going deep into the playoffs, that could boost his value back up to around this price point.
Vanecek was brought in at the trade deadline last season to give them another veteran to try to help stabilize things to a point. He hasn’t fared too poorly all things considered but coming off a rocky year in New Jersey, his value has taken a hit. He could be a candidate for a one-year pillow deal but a two-year agreement at a price tag starting with a two is more likely. Considering how poorly San Jose’s back end has been at times, Blackwood has fared relatively well since joining the Sharks last summer. However, his overall numbers won’t be high enough to land him any sort of sizable raise. Something around this price tag should be doable though.
Signed Through 2025-26
F Ty Dellandrea ($1.3MM, RFA)
D Mario Ferraro ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Carl Grundstrom ($1.8MM, UFA)
D Timothy Liljegren ($3MM, UFA)
D Henry Thrun ($1MM, RFA)
D Jake Walman ($3.4MM, UFA)
F Alexander Wennberg ($5MM, UFA)
D Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($7MM, UFA)
Wennberg was a beneficiary of the Sharks wanting some veteran center depth and the demand for middlemen on the open market, yielding an above-market contract for a player who hasn’t eclipsed the 40-point mark since 2016-17. If he stays in the 30-plus-point range as he has since then, a more realistic price tag would be closer to $4MM in 2026.
Grundstrom was acquired over the summer after it looked like he might be non-tendered by Los Angeles. While he has shown a bit of a scoring touch in the past, he hasn’t been able to do so with enough consistency, resulting in him playing a lot on the fourth line. This price tag is on the high side for someone in that role; he’ll need to find a way to produce more if he wants any sort of notable raise. Dellandrea was acquired from Dallas in the hopes that a change of scenery would get him going. That hasn’t happened yet and he finds himself in the same limited role he had with the Stars. If that continues, a non-tender could be on the table.
Vlasic has been a long-time core defender for the Sharks over his 18-year career, earning himself some Norris Trophy votes in the prime of his career. However, that prime was a long time ago. At his best, Vlasic was a key shutdown defender who could play on the top pairing and he signed this contract while being in that role. But for the most part since then, he has been more of a depth piece, either on the third pairing or as a healthy scratch. This season, he has yet to play due to a back injury but even when he returns, it’s likely to be in a limited role. He’s a buyout candidate next summer if San Jose decides to open up some cap space and if he was to hit the open market and consider going elsewhere, it’d be a minimum-salary agreement.
Walman was another cap casualty over the offseason, this time coming from Detroit. After being more of a fourth option with the Red Wings, he’s often on the top pairing and is doing well in that role. If that keeps up, he could make a case to push past the $5MM per season mark in 2026. Ferraro has been a speculative trade candidate for a while given his reasonable cap charge and his shutdown role. Limited offense will limit his earnings upside on the open market but we’ve seen players like that land around $4.5MM recently and that could be a reasonable price point for his next deal.
Liljegren was brought in from Toronto in yet another cap-clearing move (though this one came just recently). There was some risk had he made it to arbitration last summer, resulting in the two sides settling on this deal. Now, Liljegren needs to prove he can be a top-four player if he wants to beat this deal in his first trip through the open market. Thrun, meanwhile, is still looking to establish himself as a must-play top-six blueliner. Offensively, he can hold his own but he has scuffled in the defensive zone, resulting in him being more of a third-pairing player this season after being a top-four piece last year. He’s a safe bet to be qualified as things stand but he’ll need to show some improvement if he wants to get past the $2MM mark on his next deal when he’ll have arbitration rights.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic Nearing Return For San Jose
- The San Jose Sharks may get one of their longtime veterans back during their upcoming road trip. Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News wrote earlier that defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic is nearing a return to the active roster after being a full participant in the team’s practices on multiple occasions. Vlasic is now in his 19th season in San Jose but hasn’t skated for the team since April 18th, 2024 due to an injury in his upper back.
- The Sharks also have some injury concerns further down their organizational hierarchy. Jeff Marek reported earlier that Sharks’ prospect Quentin Musty suffered a hand fracture in last night’s contest between the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves and Oshawa Generals. The fracture will unfortunately keep Musty off Team USA’s roster for the upcoming 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships and may extend until the OHL trade deadline. Musty had scored eight goals and 20 points in 11 games for the Wolves this season while the team sits ninth in the OHL standings with a 12-8-3 record through 23 games.
[SOURCE LINK]
San Jose Sharks Activate Nico Sturm, Reassign Jack Thompson
The San Jose Sharks will see the return of a bottom-six center before their matchup tonight against the Los Angeles Kings. The organization announced they activated forward Nico Sturm from the injured reserve and reassigned defenseman Jack Thompson to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, in a corresponding roster move.
Sturm hasn’t factored into a game since the Sharks’ November 14th loss to the New York Rangers. He left the game with an apparent upper-body injury and was placed on the team’s injured reserve a few days later on November 18th. He rejoined the team for practice yesterday morning and was seen centering the fourth line between Klim Kostin and Ty Dellandrea.
The former Stanley Cup champion is in his third year with the Sharks organization after signing a three-year, $6MM contract with the club in 2022. He’s seen his ice time dip to 9:50 a game on average with the influx of forward talent to San Jose and has collected three goals and six points through 18 games this season.
The reassignment of Thompson is confusing on paper given the young defenseman has scored two goals and five points in 13 games for the Sharks this season from the blue line. He’s tied for third on the team in scoring amongst defensemen with veteran Cody Ceci and appeared to be a solid introduction into the team’s top-four.
Still, Thompson is only in his third professional season and could use more seasoning in the AHL before becoming a full-time NHL talent. He played in 16 games for the Barracuda last season after being acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning and scored one goal and nine points with a -13 rating.
Nico Sturm Rejoins Practice
Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov has reportedly not suffered a serious injury and will be evaluated over the next few days (as per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet). The news comes after the 27-year-old sat out last night’s game against the Calgary Flames due to a lower-body injury. Kaprizov had an MRI that revealed no major issues, which is good news for a Wild team that have caught many by surprise this season.
Kaprizov appeared to be injured in Thursday’s game against the Oilers when he collided with Edmonton forward Drake Caggiula. He left the game briefly but did return to action and finished out the third period. Kaprizov has been dominant this season, registering 13 goals and 21 assists in 19 games thus far with a +16 plus/minus. The Wild currently sit in second place in the Central Division with a 13-3-4 record.
In other Western Conference notes:
- Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now is reporting that forward Nico Sturm has rejoined the San Jose Sharks as a regular participant in practice. Sturm was placed on injured reserve back on November 18th with an upper-body injury and hasn’t played since November 14th against the New York Rangers. The 29-year-old played less than eight minutes a game in each of his last three appearances for the Sharks and has averaged a career-low 9:50 of ice time per game this season. Despite the nearly five-minute drop-in average ice time, as well as very difficult deployment, Sturm is having one of his finer offensive seasons with three goals and three assists in 18 games.
- The Los Angeles Kings have reversed yesterday’s roster transaction as netminder Erik Portillo has been recalled from the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate the Ontario Reign while goaltender Pheonix Copley has been sent back down. The Kings made the opposite move yesterday, recalling Copley and demoting Portillo. Copley served as starter David Rittich’s backup yesterday against the Seattle Kraken while Portillo was rock solid for the Reign last night, stopping 33 of 34 shots to pick up the win after not playing for a week.
Will Smith Unlikely To Play In World Juniors
The Vancouver Canucks made a couple of roster moves today, assigning forward Jonathan Lekkerimäki to the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League while recalling forward Max Sasson. Lekkerimäki was called up to Vancouver on November 10th after Brock Boeser was injured during a game against the Los Angeles Kings on November 7th. His demotion could signal that Boeser is ready to return to the lineup, but Sasson’s call-up indicates that he might not be quite ready to play yet.
Lekkerimäki initially filled in for Boeser alongside J.T. Miller and did get some extended looks on the Canucks power play. However, he struggled at even strength as the Canucks were dominated on the possession front (CF% of 45.5% as per Hockey Reference) whenever Lekkerimäki’s line was on the ice. The 20-year-old has a single goal in five NHL games this season and averaged just under 15 minutes of ice time per game.
In other Pacific Division notes:
- The Vegas Golden Knights have announced that defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The news gives the recent Robert Hagg recall some context as Vegas will need another body on the backup, particularly now that they are missing three NHL regulars from their defensive core. Pietrangelo joins Nic Hague and Ben Hutton who are both out of the lineup due to injury. Pietrangelo has had a strong start to the season posting two goals and 12 assists with a +5 plus/minus in 19 games.
- San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky tells the media that he isn’t aware of any discussions to send Sharks forward Will Smith to the World Juniors to play for Team USA (as per Max Miller of The Hockey News). Smith has struggled considerably in his first NHL season, registering just two goals and two assists in 17 games to go along with an abysmal -12 plus/minus rating. Given his play, it’s fair to wonder if the 2023 fourth-overall pick is NHL-ready, but it doesn’t appear the Sharks have any plans to have Smith play in the Juniors tournament this season.