- Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro has been a speculative trade candidate. He’s not a typical rental player who moves at this time of year as he’s signed through 2025-26 at a reasonable $3.25MM price tag which would be appealing to several teams. However, his agent Peter Wallen told San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng that GM Mike Grier informed him that Ferraro is not actively being shopped. The 25-year-old is fifth in the NHL in blocked shots so far with 151 in 52 games.
- Still with San Jose, winger Anthony Duclair told Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link) that there have been no discussions about a possible extension with the Sharks. Duclair, who represents himself in negotiations, is a pending unrestricted free agent and it’s reasonable to infer that if a new contract isn’t in place by the March 8th trade deadline, he’d be a likely candidate to be traded. Duclair is having a down year after putting up 31 goals with Florida last season as he has just 11 goals and eight assists in 59 games.
Sharks Rumors
Marc-Édouard Vlasic Out Day To Day
The 32-year-old sustained the injury in a Jan. 16 game against the Sharks and has been out of the lineup for over a month, missing Chicago’s last 14 games. The Moscow native had two goals, five assists, seven points, and a remarkable +2 rating on a bottom-feeder Blackhawks team in 26 games, although he averaged only 15:56 per contest.
- Sharks veteran blue-liner Marc-Édouard Vlasic is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and could miss up to a week, head coach David Quinn said Saturday (via Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group). Vlasic sustained the injury in practice yesterday and will sit after playing in 14 straight games, his longest stretch of the season. It’s been a difficult campaign for the 36-year-old Sharks lifer, who was a frequent healthy scratch through November and December as his all-around game continues to decline. Once regarded as one of the top shutdown defenders in the league, Vlasic’s 41.3% Corsi share at even strength is second-worst among full-time Sharks defenders this year, only ahead of rookie Nikita Okhotyuk. He carries a $7MM cap hit through the 2025-26 season.
Sharks Assign Jacob MacDonald To AHL
Feb. 21: MacDonald cleared waivers Wednesday, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. The Sharks subsequently assigned him to the Barracuda, per a team announcement.
Feb. 20: The San Jose Sharks have placed defenseman Jacob MacDonald on waivers, per a report from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Not only will this mark MacDonald’s first waiver placement of the season, but also represents the first time the Sharks have attempted to move MacDonald down to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.
A versatile player for the Sharks, MacDonald will more than likely offer the same versatility to the Barracuda in the coming days as they stay committed in their playoff hunt. Over 22 games for the Sharks this year, MacDonald has scored six goals and seven points overall while averaging a touch over 12 minutes of ice time per game.
Even though he’s played in about half as many games as his peers on the roster, MacDonald sits tied for eighth on the team in total goals and tied for third on the team in powerplay goals. Due to the playing time he has been offered in San Jose, MacDonald has scored 13 points over 47 games with the Sharks, two more points than he achieved with the Colorado Avalanche, even with 27 more games played.
At the AHL level, MacDonald has produced at a solid rate, scoring 68 goals and 121 assists over 271 career games. If he does clear waivers, it will mark his first action in the AHL since the 2021-22 season, when he scored 10 goals and 25 points in 33 games for the Colorado Eagles.
Maple Leafs Believed To Have Interest In Mario Ferraro And Luke Kunin
The Maple Leafs have shown interest in Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro and forward Luke Kunin, reports The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta. It’s believed that Toronto doesn’t want to part with a first-round pick for a rental but Ferraro has two years left on his contract at a $3.25MM cap charge while Kunin is controllable for one more year if he’s tendered a $3MM qualifying offer. Ferraro is logging nearly 23 minutes a night on San Jose’s back end and would certainly give Toronto a boost in their top four while Kunin has struggled offensively, scoring just eight times in 50 games so far. With Toronto’s interest, it’s worth noting that cap space is quite tight at the moment and as things stand, they can’t afford the full contract of one of those players let alone both.
Update On San Jose’s Deadline Plans
In an article today from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, he indicates that the San Jose Sharks holding the status of a deadline seller could be a bit of an understatement. Pagnotta reports that San Jose General Manager Mike Grier has the phone lines open and is well-positioned to complete a full-on fire sale by March 8th.
Although some teams have reportedly been calling the Sharks in regards to Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl, their contracts and injury status this season make a trade all the more unlikely. A bulk of San Jose’s movement should primarily come out of their second- and third-tier groups, such as Mario Ferraro, Anthony Duclair, Mikael Granlund, Mike Hoffman, Alexander Barabanov, Luke Kunin, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Kaapo Kahkonen, Kevin Labanc, and Jan Rutta.
Outside of a few, most of these players may not command a large return individually but could net the Sharks a nice return in the bigger picture. With the bonus of being able to retain the salary of at least one outgoing player, San Jose’s cupboard for prospects and draft picks could very well expand considerably in the next 20 days.
As far as what the Sharks may be looking for in a return, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now wrote today that the head coach of the team, David Quinn, is looking to add more size to the lineup. Depending on how aggressive the organization wants to be in realizing this desire from Quinn, there should be options available to them at the deadline.
Although an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, San Jose could look to poach defenseman Tyler Myers away from the Vancouver Canucks, who is tied for the tallest defenseman in the NHL this season. Unfortunately, Myers is the owner of a modified no-trade clause, and he may be unwilling to drop 30 spots in the standings for a change of scenery.
The available options certainly shrink on the offensive front, but there is one option that could entice the Sharks at this year’s deadline. Recently positioning themselves as a deadline buyer, the Detroit Red Wings could be willing to part with prospect Elmer Soderblom for the right return. Standing at the same height as Myers, the 22-year-old prospect has scored six goals and 19 points in 41 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins this season.
Alexander Barabanov Healthy Scratched
The Buffalo Sabres have loaned netminder Dustin Tokarski to the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League just a few days after recalling the 34-year-old. Tokarski was recalled and reassigned last week before being recalled again over the weekend due to an illness to Sabres backup Eric Comrie.
Tokarski backed up Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s today in a 4-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks and was nearly summoned to play as Luukkonen struggled stopping just 11 of 15 shots in the loss. Tokarski hasn’t played in an NHL game since February 18th, 2023, and is 7-7-2 with a .887 save percentage in 17 AHL games this season.
In other evening notes:
- A day after sending forward Mark Jankowski to the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL, the Nashville Predators have recalled the 29-year-old. Jankowski has a goal in five games this season in the NHL but is currently third in AHL scoring with 15 goals and 32 assists in 40 games. He was named the AHL’s Player of the Month for January and will now re-join the Predators as they continue their five-game road trip tomorrow night in Vegas when they take on the Golden Knights.
- The San Jose Sharks healthy scratched forward Alexander Barabanov today in their 4-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. The 29-year-old has seen his name in trade rumors over the last few months despite struggling through a poor offensive season with just three goals and six assists in 34 games. Barabanov has put together a couple of solid offensive seasons in San Jose but hasn’t had the same quality of teammates this year which has led to poor offensive results. Barabanov is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, but it doesn’t appear he was held out of action for a pending trade. Based on reports, it seems as though Barabanov was scratched for his defensive play in a previous game.
San Jose Sharks Activate Henry Thrun, Place Logan Couture On IR
Missing the last six games due to a shoulder injury, San Jose Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun was officially activated off injury reserve by the team after he successfully took part in warm-ups before this afternoon’s game. In a corresponding move, the team has placed captain Logan Couture on injured reserve for the second time this season.
Not much of an offensive weapon on the blue line, Thrun has played adequately in his first full season with the Sharks. Only playing on a unit with veteran defenseman Jan Rutta, the two have combined for 2.19 Expected Goals Against per 60 minutes according to MoneyPuck, the second-best mark on the team.
Now activated off of injured reserve, Thrun joins eight more defensemen on the active roster for San Jose, a team that has had a difficult time maintaining any sort of health over the regular season. In a position to give multiple different players their first shot in the NHL, the team has awarded Thrun’s efforts with nearly 20 minutes of ice time per night.
On the opposite side of the transaction, Couture has been out of the lineup since January 31st after reaggravating the groin injury that prohibited him from playing in the first 45 games of the season. Being one of the few offensive talents on the Sharks’ roster, Couture was only able to manage one assist in six games upon his return.
Recovery Timeline For Hertl Still A Week Away
- It will still be another week or so before the Sharks learn exactly how long Tomas Hertl will be out for, notes Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The 30-year-old has missed the last three weeks after undergoing surgery to remove cartilage from his left knee. While it has been a particularly rough year for most players in San Jose, Hertl has fared relatively well this season, all things considered. Despite missing six games, he still leads the Sharks in scoring with 34 points through 48 games. Pashelka notes that there is optimism that Hertl will be able to return at some point before the regular season comes to an end in April but with San Jose so far out of playoff contention, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him get shut down for the season altogether.
Kevin Labanc Looking For Fresh Start
Suffering from what is becoming a career-worst season, San Jose Sharks forward Kevin Labanc is looking for a fresh start outside of the Bay Area. In an article today, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now confirmed that both Labanc and his agent made the request clear, and referenced that they would like a resolution by the trade deadline or the offseason.
The resolution will eventually come, as Labanc is in the last year of a four-year, $18.9MM contract signed with the Sharks, allowing him to sign with any of the other 31 teams regardless of San Jose’s desires. Unfortunately, with only seven points in 32 games, Labanc may find his market to be incredibly limited both at the trade deadline and when free agency eventually rolls around.
In the article specifically, Peng notes that the Vancouver Canucks had an interest in acquiring Labanc as recently as last offseason, but could not confirm if they still hold any desire for him, especially with some of their additions already this season. Nevertheless, if the Sharks are unable to find a taker for Labanc by the trade deadline, a strong finish to the season should certainly be a priority for him in the hopes of boosting his free-agency stock by the summer months.
Ty Emberson, Alexander Barabanov Cleared To Return
- Sharks defenseman Ty Emberson and winger Alexander Barabanov will return from respective upper-body and undisclosed injuries against the Jets tonight, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. It’s the Sharks’ first contest since the All-Star break – they’re the last team to return to action and will do so without the services of top-two centers Logan Couture and Tomáš Hertl for the foreseeable future. Emberson missed seven out of the last nine games before the break with an upper-body injury, while Barabanov didn’t finish their final contest before the break on Jan. 31 against the Ducks. With nine points and an even rating in 23 games, Emberson has battled through various injuries to break out as San Jose’s best shutdown blueliner this season after being claimed off waivers from the Rangers. The 29-year-old Barabanov hasn’t been as effective of a secondary presence as in years past, only producing three goals and nine points in 31 appearances while averaging 16:23 per game.