Originally, Sharks captain Logan Couture wasn’t supposed to miss much time due to his lower-body injury. However, he still has yet to play this season with Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News relaying that the middleman hasn’t just suffered one setback in his recovery but rather two separate ones last month. GM Mike Grier added that they’re not in a position at this point to say if he’ll be back in a month or two, only that it’s something he’s not able to play through. San Jose could certainly use Couture’s offensive skills – he’s coming off a 67-point showing last season – but clearly, he won’t be making his season debut anytime soon.
Sharks Rumors
Salary Cap Deep Dive: San Jose Sharks
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. 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 see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2023-24 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 CapFriendly.
San Jose Sharks
Current Cap Hit: $81,392,547 (under the $83.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F William Eklund (three years, $863K)
D Nikita Okhotyuk (one year, $789K)
Potential Bonuses
Eklund: $850K
Okhotiuk: $82.5K
Total: $932.5K
The Sharks have slow-played things with Eklund, giving him a taste of NHL action over the last two years but not enough to actually start his contract. Now that his deal can’t slide anymore, he’s a regular in the lineup. He’s off to a slow start this season and San Jose’s offensive woes will make it tough for him to hit on his four ‘A’ bonuses.
Okhotiuk is essentially waiver-blocked. San Jose isn’t using him much but they also don’t want to risk losing him for nothing on waivers. The end result is a lot of time on the bench which doesn’t bode well for his next contract or reaching some of his games played bonuses.
Signed Through 2023-24, Non-Entry-Level
D Calen Addison ($825K, RFA)
F Alexander Barabanov ($2.5MM, UFA)
F Ryan Carpenter ($775K, UFA)
F Anthony Duclair ($3MM, UFA)
D Ty Emberson ($775K, RFA)
F Mike Hoffman ($4.5MM, UFA)
G Kaapo Kahkonen ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Luke Kunin ($2.75MM, RFA)
F Kevin Labanc ($4.725MM, UFA)
F Oskar Lindblom ($2.5MM, UFA)
D Jacob MacDonald ($762.5K, UFA)
D Radim Simek ($2.25MM, UFA)
F Filip Zadina ($1.1MM, RFA)
After Labanc took a team-friendly one-year deal back in 2019-20, things have gone downhill as he has failed to pass the 33-point mark since then. At one point last month, it looked like he’d be waived. A change of scenery would likely do him some good but it’s almost certainly going to come at a fraction of this price. Hoffman appears to be heading for a sizable dip in pay as well after a tough couple of years in Montreal and a particularly rough start to this season. His shot is still dangerous but he might be better suited for a deeper team who can use him on the power play but hide him a bit at five-on-five. Those teams won’t be able to offer anywhere close to the type of money he’s making now.
Duclair was acquired from Florida over the summer with the Panthers looking to free up some cap space. A big year in a prominent role could also bode well for the winger but, as is the case with pretty much every other forward, he’s off to a tough start. Still, after a 31-goal showing in 2021-22, Duclair should at least have a chance at another short-term deal around this price. Barabanov is coming off a career year that saw him record 47 points in 68 games, a pretty nice bargain at his price. However, a finger injury is likely to keep him out for another month which won’t help his bargaining power. That said, a small raise could be achievable if he’s able to produce upon his return.
Kunin’s tenure with San Jose hasn’t gone great so far. Injuries limited him to just 31 games last season where he managed 13 points and he’s producing at a lower clip in the early going this year. Owed a $3MM qualifying offer in June, that price tag might be too rich for the Sharks. Lindblom landed this deal after being bought out by Philadelphia but has struggled with his new team to the point where he cleared waivers in camp and is now in the minors with a dead cap charge of $1.35MM. As things stand, even getting that much next summer could be difficult.
Zadina walked away from guaranteed money with Detroit to take a lot less with San Jose in the hopes that a new environment could help him revive his game. The results have been spotty so far but with him being controllable through restricted free agency until 2027, they can afford a gradual development curve. A small raise with arbitration eligibility should come his way. Carpenter has seen limited minutes so far and is likely to stay in a depth forward role which will keep him around this price point moving forward.
Simek has been a depth piece for the majority of this contract (which is in its fourth year) which resulted in him clearing waivers in training camp. Accordingly, he has a dead cap charge of $1.1MM which, like Lindblom, might be more than what he’ll be able to get on the open market this summer. Addison was recently acquired from Minnesota in a move that basically gives him a fresh start where he’ll play more frequently. After putting up 29 points last season, the Wild basically had no choice but to give him a low-cost, one-year deal. Next summer, Addison will be arbitration-eligible and should see this price tag double at a minimum.
Emberson was picked up on waivers in training camp and is getting his first taste of NHL action. He has held his own so far but a larger sample size is needed to see if he’s worthy of a bigger raise and a multi-year deal or another one-year pact if he winds up being a depth defender. MacDonald is another depth piece who, at 30, is almost certain to stay around the minimum salary on his next deal.
Things haven’t gone quite as planned for Kahkonen. Former GM Doug Wilson moved a capable blueliner in Jacob Middleton to get the netminder back at the 2021-22 trade deadline with the hopes that he’d be their goalie of the future. The way he finished off that season provided some cause for optimism but since then, it has not been pretty. He posted a save percentage of just .883 last season and this year, it’s even worse early on; with how bad the Sharks are, there’s no guarantee it will improve either. He’s one of the more intriguing goalies in this free agent class; is it a case of him just needing a more structured environment to succeed in? Or did he peak a couple of years ago? How teams feel will ultimately decide if he gets a contract similar to this one or if he’s heading for a sizable pay cut as well.
Signed Through 2024-25
G Mackenzie Blackwood ($2.35MM, UFA)
F Mikael Granlund ($5MM, UFA)
D Nikolai Knyzhov ($1.25MM, UFA)
D Jan Rutta ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Givani Smith ($800K, UFA)
F Nico Sturm ($2MM, UFA)
F Fabian Zetterlund ($1.45MM, RFA)
Yes, things didn’t go well for Granlund in Pittsburgh but before that, he had 100 points in his last 138 games with Nashville. Accordingly, a bounce-back performance is doable in theory but this might not be the best situation for that to happen. At the moment, it’s hard to see him getting this type of money two years from now but if things stabilize somewhat and Granlund is a key part of that happening, he might be able to come closer than some might think. Sturm had a career year last season, his first with San Jose as he put up career bests across the board while providing some positive value on his contract. If he can stay close to 25 points while being a faceoff specialist, his market should be a bit stronger in 2025 where he could push for closer to $3MM.
Zetterlund did well with New Jersey last year but struggled mightily after being acquired in the Timo Meier swap. This season, he has looked a bit more comfortable and is the early team leader in goals. He’ll be looking to establish himself as a dependable middle-six winger moving forward and if he does, his next contract should at least go past the $2MM mark. Smith has been a depth player when he has been on an NHL roster and that’s unlikely to change with the Sharks which should keep him around this price point two years from now.
Rutta is best utilized in a complementary role and the state of San Jose’s depth chart makes that somewhat difficult to accomplish. When he signed this contract with Pittsburgh, it seemed like an overpayment at the time and if he winds up languishing with the Sharks for most of the remainder of it, he could also be looking at a small cut on his next contract. Knyzhov has battled significant injury trouble and at this point, it’s just about re-establishing himself as a regular, a role he last had in 2020-21. If he can do so and stay healthy, he could push for closer to $2MM but would need to become a top-four piece with the Sharks to aim much higher.
Blackwood struggled with injuries and inconsistency with New Jersey, resulting in his rights being dealt to San Jose in the spring. They non-tendered him but quickly agreed to this deal. The 26-year-old has fared better than Kahkonen but is struggling behind a weakened back end. He’ll need to fare at least a bit better if he wants a shot at another deal around this price point; even keeping them competitive most nights might be enough.
Signed Through 2025-26
D Matt Benning ($1.25MM, UFA)
D Kyle Burroughs ($1.1MM, UFA)
D Mario Ferraro ($3.25MM, UFA)
D Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($7MM, UFA)
To say that Vlasic’s contract hasn’t aged well would be an extreme understatement. The decline in performance started in year two and has continued since then. In his prime, Vlasic was a prime shutdown defenseman but now, he’s struggling to handle even number six minutes and has been healthy scratched at times. There is signing bonus money in each of the remaining years of the contract which must be paid in full with a buyout. Even so, a buyout starts to look a bit palatable this summer when the cost would be $3.833MM, $4.833MM, and then two years at $1.333MM. San Jose isn’t in a spot where they need to free up cap space but keeping an aging veteran around at the expense of a younger player isn’t the best option either and a trade just isn’t palatable.
Ferraro’s contract was interesting at the time it was signed in that it brought him right to unrestricted free agency with no extra years of club control. He’s playing a bigger role than he probably should but in a fourth or fifth role, he’d fit in well with quite a few teams. Unless things really don’t go well between now and 2026, he should be positioned to earn an increase on this deal even with his struggles as a top-pairing player.
Benning’s contract was another somewhat curious one in that sixth defenders usually don’t get four-year deals. He actually had a career season offensively last year, making him a bit of a bargain at the moment although he’d need to continue to produce near that level to earn any sort of significant raise. Closer to the trade deadline, he could be an under-the-radar trade candidate. Burroughs also inked a multi-year deal to be a role player on the back end, pretty good stability for a player who had less than 100 NHL games under his belt at the time he signed. He’s also playing a bigger role than he should but if he can hold his own at the 20-minute mark, his market should be stronger in 2026.
Sharks Waiting For Things To Stabilize Before Recalling Prospects; Benning Resumes Skating
While the Sharks snapped their season-long losing streak at 11 games yesterday with a win over the Flyers, clearly, there’s a lot of work to be done still. However, don’t expect any reinforcements coming from the minors. Speaking with Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, GM Mike Grier indicated that while they’ve thought about bringing up some of their better prospects from the minors (including defensemen Henry Thrun and Shakir Mukhamadullin plus forward Daniil Gushchin), they’d like to see things get more stabilized first over putting those youngsters into a less than ideal situation from a development perspective. Getting captain Logan Couture back would help on that front but with him suffering a recent setback in his recovery lately, there’s no timeline for when he’ll be able to join the lineup.
- Still with the Sharks, Pashelka reports in a separate piece that blueliner Matt Benning has resumed skating as he works his way back from an undisclosed injury. The 29-year-old is coming off a career year offensively but, like many San Jose players, is off to a rough start this year with just a single point in his first eight appearances while averaging 18:29 per night. Benning is on injured reserve but has already been on there for more than a week, meaning they’ll be able to activate him as soon as he’s cleared to return.
Jacob MacDonald Out One Week
Spurgeon has been sidelined for all 12 games this season due to an upper-body injury sustained during training camp, a figure that will stretch to at least 14 before he joins the team for game action. His absence has been a back-breaker for a team that’s played uncharacteristically poor defensively so far, allowing 49 goals through 12 games – the most in the Central Division and second-most in the Western Conference, behind only the lowly San Jose Sharks. On the bright side, Spurgeon’s absence has meant an opportunity for 21-year-old rookie Brock Faber, who’s assumed top-pairing duties without a second thought and has registered five points and a +7 rating in nearly 24 minutes per game of ice time.
- San Jose Sharks defenseman Jacob MacDonald was placed on injured reserve earlier today in a corresponding transaction to the acquisition of Calen Addison from the Minnesota Wild, and head coach David Quinn confirmed today that he’ll miss the minimum one week required to be on IR but not necessarily much more. Injuries have limited MacDonald to just two appearances this season, but he did log a two-point effort in the team’s 10-2 blowout at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins recently. In fact, MacDonald has only suited up in the Sharks’ back-to-back 10-goal concessions, recording a -5 rating and averaging just north of 12 minutes per game.
Wild Trade Calen Addison To Sharks
Michael Russo of The Athletic is reporting that the Minnesota Wild have traded defenseman Calen Addison to the San Jose Sharks for a fifth-round pick. The 23-year-old has five assists in 12 games so far this season and will join a rebuilding Sharks team that just won its first game of the season last night. According to Russo, the draft pick appears to be a 2026 selection and the Wild will also receive minor-league right winger Adam Raska in the deal. Raska is currently playing in the AHL for the San Jose Barracuda and has zero points in seven games this season.
On the surface, the move is a peculiar one for the Wild, Addison was a second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2018 and was a central part of the trade package the Penguins sent to the Wild in exchange for Jason Zucker. Last season, Addison posted three goals and 26 assists in 62 games in what was his first full season in the NHL. Those numbers, while impressive, do require some context. 18 of Addison’s 26 assists came on the powerplay, and while his offensive instincts are obvious, his defensive shortcomings leave a lot to be desired. Last season, Addison was a -17, and while that statistic can be misleading, a deep dive into his defensive analytics will tell you a very similar story. Things got so bad defensively last season that Addison went through a stretch where he was a healthy scratch in 25 out of the 35 games (including regular season and playoffs). During this stretch, the Wild traded for John Klingberg who took over powerplay responsibilities from Addison and his spot in the lineup. This led to Addison spending most of the summer without a contract extension before ultimately signing a one-year $825K deal on September 19. Now with the trade, Addison will close a very uneven run in Minnesota.
From the Sharks’ perspective, the move makes total sense, the club is rebuilding and gets to acquire a right-shot offensively-minded defenseman for almost nothing. If Addison is unable to turn his defensive game around San Jose can simply non-tender him in the offseason and walk away from Addison without any long-term ramifications. Sharks general manager Mike Grier has decided that a fifth-round pick and an AHLer is worth rolling the dice on a player who could develop into a long-term fixture on the Sharks powerplay when they emerge from their current rebuild.
In addition to the trade, the Sharks have also recalled forward Oskar Lindblom from the AHL and defenseman Jacob MacDonald has been moved to the injured reserve.
Sharks Unlikely To Change Coach
TSN Insider Darren Dreger is reporting that the Vancouver Canucks are looking for a right-shot defenseman. The surprising Canucks have started the season 9-2-1 and are currently among the league’s elite a month into the regular season. Vancouver was projected to be a bubble team this year but have outperformed expectations to this point. The Canucks have considerable depth in their forward group, particularly on the wing and are hoping to be able to use an excess winger to acquire a defenseman.
Unfortunately for the Canucks, most of the teams they are talking trade with have little to no interest in acquiring a player and are looking for futures. This further complicates a potential move for Vancouver as they have precious little cap space to facilitate such a transaction. According to CapFriendly, the Canucks have $162,500 in cap space, meaning that they wouldn’t even be able to add a player on a league minimum contract.
In other notes:
- TSN Insider Chris Johnston is reporting that he doesn’t believe the San Jose Sharks will make a big trade or a coaching change in the coming weeks as they weather one of the worst starts to a season in NHL history. The Sharks were expected to finish the season near the bottom of the NHL standings, but no one predicted they would start the season this poorly. Johnston adds that Sharks general manager Mike Grier met with the team yesterday and stated that any improvements would need to come from within the group, although Grier didn’t rule out making changes if the Sharks don’t show any improvement in the coming weeks.
- NHL.com is reporting that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jeff Carter will be a healthy scratch for the second game in a row tonight when the Penguins take on the Anaheim Ducks. It is just the second time in his 19-year NHL career that the veteran will be scratched after he has struggled to start the season. Carter has no points in nine games and was part of a struggling fourth line that failed to provide a single point in the first nine games of the season. Head coach Mike Sullivan scratched Carter for the last game and opted to dress Vinnie Hinostroza against the San Jose Sharks in a game the Penguins won 10-2. Hinostroza had a goal and an assist, and fellow fourth-liners Matt Nieto and Noel Acciari produced their first points of the season as well.
No Timeline For Barabanov Return
Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier, who has not played in either of the team’s last two games, will return tonight against the San Jose Sharks, according to Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. It will be an important reinforcement for the Flyers who are currently on a 1-4-0 stretch in their last five games.
- Max Miller of The Hockey News reports there is still no timeline for the return of Sharks winger, Alexander Barabanov, but he is progressing nicely from injury. Barbanov has been out of the lineup with a finger injury since the team’s game against the Florida Panthers on October 24th. After finishing fifth on the team in scoring last season, Barabanov is one of six members of San Jose’s forward core that has not scored a point yet this year.
- Back to the Sharks, Max Miller also mentioned that Mike Hoffman and Nikolai Knyzhov were late additions to today’s practice, meaning they may be out of the lineup tonight against the Flyers. Both players were present during the team’s blowout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.
San Jose Sharks Send Down Magnus Chrona
Earlier today, San Jose Sharks beat writer, Curtis Pashelka, reported on the fact that goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen had returned to practice with the team, and could return as early as tomorrow night against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Sharks have seemingly confirmed that to be the case, as they announce goaltender Magnus Chrona has been sent down to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.
Called up a few days ago to backup Mackenzie Blackwood in the team’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Chrona would actually find himself in the net for much of the game, as Blackwood was pulled a little before halfway through after giving up six goals on 18 shots. Chrona faired a bit better, although not by much, as he was on the hook for four goals on 17 shots against.
It was a rude awakening for a young goaltender who had only come to the organization less than a year ago, signing as a college-free agent out of the University of Denver. Nevertheless, he is not returning to a positive situation in the AHL either, as the Barracuda hold a 2-4-3 record early in the year, with Chrona garnering a .871 SV% and a 4.82 GAA in four games played.
As the Sharks continue to seek out their first win of the year against Philadelphia tomorrow night, they will at least have the benefit of both their regular netminders being able to play. Given that both Kahkonen and Blackwood have allowed six goals in less than 20 shots in each of their most recent starts, it remains to be seen which goaltender will eventually get the nod to start.
Latest On David Quinn
The San Jose Sharks haven’t just been winless through 11 games this season, they’ve, generally speaking, been an unmitigated disaster on the ice. Last night’s 10-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins marked back-to-back games in which the team has surrendered 10 goals, while also marking just the second time this season that the team scored more than a single goal in a game. According to Sportsnet Stats, no team has surrendered 10 goals in back-to-back games since 1965.
While the Sharks taking up a place in the NHL’s basement was entirely expected, what hasn’t been expected is just how bad the team has looked in each game this season. The Sharks have scored 12 goals this season, just one more goal than Auston Matthews alone. The team has surrendered 55 goals, which averages out to five per game and is a full eight goals higher than the next-worst team.
All in all, the Sharks’ performances this season have naturally led to questions over head coach David Quinn’s job status. San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng asked Quinn about his job security after last night’s loss, to which Quinn responded:
I guess it’s an obvious question, but if you’ve been around long, I mean, I don’t think about that for two seconds. I’ve got a job to do.
Veteran Sharks forward Nico Sturm was asked about coaching as well, and he gave this response:
It’s not about the coaches. We lose 10-1, what are the coaches [going to do]? The coaches aren’t out there and playing. It’s far too easy to play against us right now, and that’s certainly not the coach’s fault. It’s up to us as players and we’re not anywhere near where we need to be right now.
Those quotes, which come via the Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka, indicate that this isn’t a situation where there is discord and tension between coaches and players, the kind of tension that often causes these types of lopsided losses. Instead, the Sharks’ struggles could very well be more of a reflection of the caliber of roster Quinn is working with.
That being said, Peng wrote on X last night regarding Quinn’s job status that the team will “need to show real improvement, and relatively soon.” He added that the improvement can come in the form of simply just “competing consistently & not getting embarrassed” and that the issue for Quinn’s job security may not be the fact that they are losing, but “how they’re losing.”
For Quinn to be fired so early in the season would be something of a surprise, even with how poorly the Sharks have been playing.
Quinn was GM Mike Grier’s choice to lead the team through its rebuild, a former highly successful college coach with extensive experience managing young players and coaching in a rebuilding setting in the NHL.
General Managers typically do not get a large number of head coaches to cycle through before questions start coming in about their own job status, so firing Quinn would represent a significant setback for the Sharks’ front office, an admission that their first head coaching choice had backfired to a massive degree.
But what would also be a significant setback for the Sharks would be continuing this current stretch of downright horrific performances.
The team appears to have no issue stacking losses in order to secure the best chance at projected 2024 number-one pick and San Jose Jr. Sharks product Macklin Celebrini, just as clubs had no issue losing in order to have the best chance for Connor Bedard last season. But in most cases rebuilding clubs would like to pair those losses with genuine steps forward for some of its young players.
So far, that hasn’t happened for the Sharks. The team has lost all of its games and seen many key young players fail to take the steps forward at the NHL level that the organization was hoping for.
Just one player has registered more than five points on San Jose this season (veteran Tomáš Hertl) while valued youth talent such as William Eklund and Filip Zadina have struggled to put points together.
It’s an undeniably brutal situation for a rebuilding club to be in, and it’s a situation without many clear paths out unless the team as a whole significantly improves its play. If Quinn isn’t able to guide his team to more competitive hockey on a nightly basis, the questions on his job status, which began last night, could get quite a bit harder to ignore.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Kaapo Kahkonen Out Day-To-Day
- As hinted at in last night’s recall of goaltender Magnus Chrona, Sheng Peng of NBC Sports is reporting that San Jose Sharks’ netminder, Kaapo Kahkonen is out with an upper-body injury, and is considered day-to-day. Although Chrona is only in his first year with an NHL organization, San Jose could benefit from another option in the crease, as both of their regular goaltenders have failed to hold a SV% above .900 in the team’s first 10 games of the season.
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