- The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka shared that the San Jose Sharks would be open to trading Logan Couture or Tomas Hertl, if the veterans want to leave. It seems San Jose recognizes the situation they’re in and understands if their aging veterans want to chase the playoffs. However, their contracts may be difficult to move. Couture carries an $8MM cap hit and Hertl carries $8.1375MM, both with some sort of trade protection. While a deal would come at the request of either player, meaning trade protection wouldn’t likely make much impact, it’ll still be challenging to work out the logistics in the flat-cap environment the NHL currently finds itself in. Nonetheless, being offered top-end talent previously only offered to San Jose should be enticing for any NHL club.
[SOURCE LINK]
Sharks Rumors
Latest On Alexander Barabanov, Anthony Duclair
Alexander Barabanov has been one of the most valuable and cost-efficient players on the San Jose Sharks over the past two seasons. He broke out to the tune of 39 points in 70 games in 2021-22, and then followed that up with 15 goals and 47 points in 68 games last season. Set to turn 30 in the summer, Barabanov is entering a platform year for a potential trip to unrestricted free agency. When asked about the possibility of extending Barabanov as well as summer trade addition Anthony Duclair, San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier told the media (including Bay Area News Group’s Curtis Pashelka) that “there’s definitely some merit to thinking about extending those guys and having them around here.”
One could question why the Sharks would be interested in extending Barabanov and Duclair, players who will be 30 and 29 in the summer, respectively, and those questions would be reasonable. Committing cap dollars to wingers at or near their 30’s is the kind of move contending teams make, not rebuilders. But despite trading away Norris Trophy Winner Erik Karlsson, the Sharks aren’t yet plunged into a full rebuilding process. The twin pillars of the franchise remain Logan Couture and Tomáš Hertl, and Grier may be interested in fielding as competitive a roster as possible while those players are still in teal.
Latest On Logan Couture, Eetu Mäkiniemi
As reported by Bay Area News Group’s Curtis Pashelka, San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture is out with a lower-body injury. He’s been assigned a week-to-week status, although Couture elaborated that there’s “no timetable” for when he’ll be returning to the ice. Any extended Couture absence would be a major blow to the Sharks’ ability to compete in the wake of this offseason’s Erik Karlsson trade. Couture scored 67 points last season and operates in a crucial role centering one of the Sharks’ top two lines, the other driven by Tomáš Hertl.
Sharks head coach David Quinn told the media that he’s giving offseason trade acquisition Mikael Granlund a look down the middle in Couture’s absence. While Granlund is certainly a player with a lot of NHL experience and scored 64 points in 2021-22, his play more recently (specifically as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins) drew some harsh criticism. Although some focus will be on the young talent that may emerge in the preseason, Couture’s health status could end up being the number-one storyline to watch for Sharks fans in the lead-up to opening night.
Summer Synopsis: San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks limped into the offseason of what was sure to be a franchise altering offseason. There was some excitement that the club was finally going to be able to get out from under Erik Karlsson’s gigantic cap hit and begin a full on rebuild that was a few years in the making. Ultimately the rebuild did start, but the return for their franchise defenseman was extremely underwhelming. Although people in some circles see the move as purely a cap dump, it was unlikely that the team was going to be a cap team in the next few seasons anyway which puts a damper on some of that talk.
San Jose is going to be bad this upcoming season, but based on the moves of General Manager Mike Grier, that is the plan as they embark on the first rebuild in San Jose since the mid-1990s.
Draft
1-4: C Will Smith, USA U-18 (USNDP)
1-26: F Quentin Musty, Sudbury Wolves (OHL)
2-36: F Kasper Halttunen, HIFK (Liiga)
3-71: C Brandon Svoboda, Youngstown Phantoms (USHL)
4-123: D Luca Cagnoni, Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
5-130: D Axel Landen, HV 71 Jr. (J20 Nationell)
5-132:D Eric Pohlkamp, Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (USHL)
7-196: C David Klee, Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)
7-203: F Yegor Rimashevsky, Dynamo Moscow Jr. (MHL)
Smith has a strong hockey sense and a terrific skill set that should help him have an excellent NHL career. This past season he dressed in 60 games for the United States National Team Development Program’s Under-18 team and finished second on the NTDP’s all-time single-season points list potting 51 goals to go along with 76 assists. He helped lead the group to a Gold Medal at the Under-18 Men’s World Championship while leading the tournament in scoring with nine goals and 11 assists. It might be a few seasons before Smith dons a Sharks jersey as he is currently committed to play at Boston College next season close to his hometown of Lexington, Massachusetts.
With the Sharks second first-round pick they drafted Musty out of the OHL. The former first overall pick in the 2021 OHL draft had a strong second half of last year and a good season overall posting 26 goals and 52 assists in 53 games. The Hamburg, New York native has good size at 6’2” and 200 pounds and should be able to use it along with his reach and skillset to score goals in the NHL. He hasn’t quite dominated the OHL yet, but given where he is at, he could be poised for a big year in Sudbury this upcoming season.
Trade Acquisitions
G – Mackenzie Blackwood (from New Jersey)
F – Anthony Duclair (from Florida)
D – Leon Gawanke (from Winnipeg)
F – Mikael Granlund (from Pittsburgh)
F – Mike Hoffman (from Montreal via Pittsburgh)
D – Jan Rutta (from Pittsburgh)
The Sharks made some interesting trades this offseason that if viewed in a vacuum seem to show a lack of direction. But if you look at the body of work over the course of the entire summer it becomes a little bit clearer that Mike Grier has a plan. Whether or not it will work remains to be seen, but the rebuild is in full force and Grier has taken to many different avenues to try and extract future value from players.
Duclair is the type of player that can provide efficient depth scoring at a very affordable price point. He is making just $3MM this season and is only a year removed from scoring over 30 goals for the Florida Panthers. While his acquisition doesn’t make sense for a team that is building for the future, the cost to acquire him was so low. If Duclair can bounce back and have a good season, San Jose should be able to move him at the trade deadline and acquire much better pieces than the ones they gave up getting him, which was a fifth-round pick and Steven Lorentz.
The story is the same for Blackwood, San Jose signed him to a two-year $4.7MM extension after acquiring him and are hoping he can provide league-average goaltending for the time being. Should he bounce back he could be another piece that San Jose flips out to grab some future draft picks or prospects.
The likes of Granlund, Hoffman and Rutta are all still NHL players, however, they each had become expendable with their former clubs. Granlund and Rutta were ill-advised moves that Ron Hextall had made in Pittsburgh that backfired almost immediately after they were made. Both players could find bounce-back seasons in San Jose which would make it possible to move them in the future for other assets. Rutta might be in tough though as he is slated to play in the Sharks top 4, a role he struggled in badly last season with the Penguins.
UFA Signings
D Kyle Burroughs (three years, $3.3MM)
C Ryan Carpenter (one year, $775K)*
F Scott Sabourin (two years, $1.55MM)*
RW Givani Smith (two years, $1.6MM)
C Nathan Todd (two years, $1.55MM)*
RW Filip Zadina (one year, $1.1MM)
The Sharks went into the offseason knowing that they were not going to be players for any of the bigger-name free agents as they were already trying to shed cap space and get younger. They weren’t completely inactive though as they made a few moves to add depth and toughness while bringing in a couple of projects who could be bounce-back candidates.
Mike Grier continued his trend of buying low on players as he opted to sign former Detroit Red Wings forward Zadina to a one-year deal. The 23-year-old hasn’t shown much in his short NHL career, but with more minutes and a bigger role, he could start to find the scoresheet with more frequency. The downside to the deal was almost non-existent for San Jose since they can just cut ties after the season if Zadina doesn’t work out. He will surely be motivated to prove the doubters wrong as every team in the league passed on picking him up under his previous contract leading to a mutual termination with Detroit.
RFA Re-Signings
G Eetu Makiniemi (one year, $775K)*
F Jacob Peterson (one year, $775K)
F Fabian Zetterlund (two years, $2.9MM)
*-denotes two-way contract
The Sharks didn’t have much in-house business to take care of this summer when it came to the restricted free-agent front. Zetterlund was the biggest piece of business to lock up as he and San Jose opted to sign a two-year bridge contract. Zetterlund was having a decent season with the New Jersey Devils posting six goals and 14 assists in 45 games before he was dealt mid-season in the Timo Meier swap. In 22 games with the Sharks, the 24-year-old failed to gain much traction as he posted just three assists and struggled to drive play in any meaningful way. His advanced analytics also took a sizable drop, which isn’t surprising given his move from a contending team to a rebuilding one. Zetterlund should be given a big role this upcoming season as the Sharks have fully entered a rebuild and will be looking to see whether he is part of the future or a piece they can move on from for future assets.
Departures
C Kyle Criscuolo (New Jersey, one year, $775K)*
G Aaron Dell (Columbus – PTO)
F Jonah Gadjovich (Charlotte Checkers – AHL)
C Noah Gregor (Toronto – PTO)
C Luke Johnson (Metallurg Magnitogorsk-KHL)
LW Andreas Johnsson (Pittsburgh, one year, $800K)
D Erik Karlsson (traded to Pittsburgh)
RW Martin Kaut (signed with HC Dynamo Pardubice-Czechia)
F Steven Lorentz (traded to Florida)
D Markus Nutivaara (retired)
D Derrick Pouliot (Dallas, one year, $775K)*
G James Reimer (Detroit, one year, $1.5MM)
F C.J. Suess (Manitoba – AHL)
D Andrej Sustr (signed Kölner Haie of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL)
LW Yevgeni Svechnikov (signed Ak Bars Kazan-KHL)
RW Max Veronneau (signed with Leksands IF-SHL)
The biggest and probably the only notable loss for the Sharks was reigning Norris Trophy winner Karlsson. The now Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman had a season for the ages and became the first defenseman to top 100 points in a season in three decades. Karlsson’s run in San Jose was mired with injuries and inconsistent play, despite his historical season last year. He could never push the Sharks over the hump and eventually, the team fell out of their window of contention leading to the trade with the Penguins.
Karlsson didn’t fit with the Sharks’ future and a move was the best thing for both sides long term. San Jose did get some pieces for Karlsson, just likely not what they would have hoped to get for an elite asset.
Outside of Karlsson, most of the departing Sharks players were replacement-level players at best and leave San Jose in a spot where they should have a ton of flexibility going forward, particularly if the salary cap does increase as it is expected to over the next few seasons.
Salary Cap Outlook
San Jose has cap space heading into this season and could have a ton of it next summer. With $4MM this year, and possibly around $40MM next summer, the options are almost endless. Now, barring a lot of major growth in their prospects it seems unlikely that Grier will be a major player for free agents next summer. But perhaps he could make moves to use some of his draft capital to acquire restricted free agents that better fit the Sharks’ timeline to being a contender. Grier has wiped out a lot of the team’s long-term financial commitments and could make some serious moves at a time when the cap will start to grow.
Key Questions
How Bad Will They Be? A lot of pundits have predicted that the Sharks will have the best odds to win the draft lottery at the end of the 2023-24 season, and while that would certainly jumpstart their rebuild, they must play the season first. The Sharks have some players who can put the puck in the net and even if management has their sights set on a future lottery pick, the players want to win hockey games and will do everything in their power to do so. But no matter how hard those players try, they will still likely be a bad team. How bad? Well, that remains to be seen. 30 wins seems steep for this group, but maybe they’ll surprise some people in a weak Western Conference.
Who Else Will Be Dealt? The Sharks still have several veterans under big contracts, and while Mike Grier has obviously made flexibility a priority, he still must reach the salary cap floor which means he can’t trade all of them. Marc-Édouard Vlasic is a player who has fallen off a cliff in recent years and owns perhaps the worst contract in the NHL, but he still provides a veteran presence and is almost untradeable. But could the Sharks look to take back other bad contracts to give the veteran defenseman a change of scenery? We’ll see.
Will Grier Weaponize His Cap Space? Mike Grier has almost $4MM in cap space for this season and could have close to $40MM next summer. Will he use his space to take on bad contracts while acquiring more picks and prospects for the future? It’s a tactic that many rebuilding teams have used to essentially purchase draft picks using short-term cap space, and it is something that Grier could utilize to add a lot of depth to the organization.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Sharks Invite Justin Bailey To Camp For A PTO
7:17PM: The San Jose Sharks have confirmed via their training camp roster that Bailey will be attending training camp on a PTO.
According to Elite Prospects, the San Jose Sharks have reportedly invited forward Justin Bailey to training camp on a PTO. Bailey was previously a member of the Edmonton Oilers organization, having spent last season in the AHL with the Bakersfield Condors. The 28-year-old was a decent depth scoring option for the Condors last season posting 19 goals and 13 assists in 58 AHL games.
Normally those wouldn’t be the type of AHL numbers that would get a look in the NHL, but nothing has been normal about the San Jose Sharks offseason and Bailey figures to add some size and grit to a training camp that is lacking both of those attributes.
Bailey was once a sought-after prospect back when he was drafted in the second round by the Buffalo Sabres at the 2013 NHL entry draft. Many scouts marveled at his ability to get around the ice, a rare trait for a player of his size. But Bailey was never able to put it all together at the NHL level posting just five goals and four assists in 82 games broken up across seven NHL seasons.
In the AHL, Bailey flirted with being a point a game player for several seasons including in 2019-20 while a member of the Utica Comets. That season Bailey posted 28 goals and 19 assists in just 53 games but had his season cut short by the pandemic. Bailey bounced back nicely two years later when AHL hockey was able to resume play under normal circumstances posting 15 goals and 12 assists in 30 games.
Although he is a long shot to make the Sharks, Bailey should be able to earn an AHL job if he does accept the offer for a tryout. Bailey could possibly even earn a two-way contract with the club if he is to have a good showing at training camp. His size will always be something that gets teams attention and he can play the power forward very well at the AHL level.
Sharks Best Positioned To Win First Overall Pick
Harman Dayal of The Athletic writes that the San Jose Sharks are the team that is best positioned to win the draft lottery in 2024 and ultimately the first overall pick. Dayal ranked the top five teams with the best chance to do so, and in his estimation, he believes that the Chicago Blackhawks will have the second-best odds, the Philadelphia Flyers third, Anaheim Ducks fourth, and the Montreal Canadiens rounding out the top 5.
Given the offseason that the Sharks have had, the rankings are hardly a surprise. The Sharks dealt the reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a lot of bad roster players and several draft picks. The move to embrace a full rebuild was the correct one given where the Sharks are in their roster construction, but it is going to lead to a lot of lean years and in Dayal’s view this one could be the toughest.
After subtracting Karlsson, the Sharks added Mikael Granlund, Mike Hoffman, Jan Rutta, Filip Zadina, and Anthony Duclair. While several of those players still have something to offer a team, none of them appear likely to be with the Sharks long-term and most of the players will be asked to play this season in a roster spot that doesn’t match their current skillset. Take Rutta for example, he was a terrific sixth defenseman on the Stanley Cup winning Tampa Bay Lightning squads but struggled last season in Pittsburgh when he was asked to play in the top-4 in the absence of Kris Letang and Jeff Petry. Rutta was exposed as a liability on most nights in that role, and this year will be asked to play on San Jose’s top defensive pairing. It’s going to be a tough year for the Sharks’ defense as they likely don’t have a single defenseman on their roster that could play in the top-4 of a playoff team.
Zadina is also going to be asked to play a role that doesn’t match his skillset as he is currently pencilled in to play in the Sharks top line. He had trouble finding minutes in Detroit and was a healthy scratch at times. Now he will be asked to dress against opponents’ top units, which might make for a tough year for the 23-year-old who is trying to rebuild his stock after struggling with the Red Wings.
Outside of Duclair, every player the Sharks acquired this offseason was a lightning rod for criticism with their former clubs. Granlund in Pittsburgh was the move that probably got Ron Hextall fired as he didn’t mix with the Penguins, Hoffman wore out his welcome in Montreal and didn’t provide much besides a shot. Dayal is predicting that all these ingredients will be a recipe for disaster in San Jose, but it could also be the shot in the arm that their rebuild needs if they are in fact able to win the draft lottery and secure the first overall pick in 2024.
Pittsburgh Penguins Hire Doug Wilson
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced this morning that have hired former San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson as a Senior Advisor of Hockey Operations. According to the Penguins press release, Wilson’s role will see him provide his opinion and counsel to Penguins president and general manager Kyle Dubas, as well as offer his expertise relating to all hockey matters, including personnel decisions.
Wilson brings over four decades of NHL experience to the Penguins management group having spent over 25 years in management with the San Jose Sharks on top of his 16-year Hall-of-Fame playing career. Wilson oversaw a Sharks team that was consistently in contention without ever undergoing a true rebuild. Something the Penguins are likely staring down when the Sidney Crosby–Evgeni Malkin–Kris Letang era of hockey comes to an end.
Wilson was inducted into the Hockey Hall-of-Fame as a player in 2020 after dressing in 1024 career NHL games split between the Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks. The Ottawa, Ontario native recorded 237 goals in his career and 827 points and was the Norris Trophy winner in 1982.
He spent 19 years as the general manager of the Sharks, guiding them to 14 playoff appearances as well as a Presidents’ Trophy in 2009, to go along with six division titles. The Sharks never did win a cup under Wilson’s tutelage, coming close in 2016 when they lost in the Stanley Cup final to the Penguins.
Since arriving in Pittsburgh, Dubas has rebuilt the Penguins both off and on the ice, having overhauled their defense, their forward group, and now the hockey operations department. It should make for an interesting season in Pittsburgh as there is renewed optimism after the Penguins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006. The Penguins have felt stale since 2018 and with the addition of Dubas, along with the Erik Karlsson trade, it seems the Penguins are trending in a positive direction as they enter what is likely to be the final run with this core.
Zadina Comments On His Depature From Detroit
- Speaking with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, Sharks winger Filip Zadina discussed the circumstances surrounding his departure from Detroit. After they couldn’t accommodate his trade request earlier this summer, Zadina took the odd step of agreeing to a mutual termination, resulting in him hitting free agency where he inked a one-year, $1.1MM deal with San Jose, a pay cut from what he would have made had he stayed with the Red Wings. The 23-year-old felt that his frequent injuries led to things not working out. Now fully healthy, he expects the fresh start will see him bounce back which would be great for the Sharks who can control Zadina’s rights through the 2026-27 season.
Decisions Of Other First-Rounders Could Affect Will Smith's Pro Timeline
- Sharks prospect Will Smith isn’t likely to play out his four years of college eligibility as the team will want the fourth-overall pick to turn pro by then. Speaking with Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino suggests that the decisions of fellow freshmen Ryan Leonard and Gabriel Perreault – both first-rounders as well – could ultimately influence Smith’s decision. If those two decide to turn pro after the college season ends, Smith could follow suit. But if they’re leaning toward staying, Smith could do the same since Boston College could still be a viable threat for an NCAA title with that core up front.
Sharks Loan Filip Bystedt Back To Swedish League
The Sharks have decided that the time isn’t right for prospect Filip Bystedt to make his North American debut. Instead, CapFriendly recently reported (Twitter link) that San Jose has loaned the center back to SHL Linköping for the upcoming season.
The 19-year-old was the 27th pick back in 2022 after a strong showing in Sweden’s junior level where he recorded 16 goals and 33 assists in 40 regular season games while adding ten points in eight playoff contests. He also got into 15 games with Linköping at the top level in his draft year and while he didn’t produce much (one goal and one assist), he showed enough offensive promise at the junior level to warrant a first-round selection.
Last season, Bystedt was a regular at the SHL level, suiting up in 45 of their 52 games. While he didn’t light it up like he did in junior, he still finished seventh on the team in scoring, tallying seven goals with 13 helpers while logging nearly 13 minutes a night. Once the regular season ended, Bystedt was then sent down to the junior level where he picked up six points in four games to end his year on a high note. Meanwhile, he was quite productive at the World Juniors, finishing tied for sixth in tournament scoring with four goals and six assists in seven games although they came up short in the medal round, finishing fourth. That helped earn him his entry-level deal back in June.
While still junior-eligible, Bystedt was eligible to go to the AHL this coming season since he wasn’t drafted out of the CHL. However, it appears that San Jose feels he’d be best served with another year in Sweden’s top division over suiting up with AHL Barracuda. This means that his contract will slide for the 2023-24 campaign and will still have three years remaining on it at this point next summer.