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Alexander Barabanov Placed On Injured Reserve, San Jose Sharks Recall Ryan Carpenter

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10/26/23: The Sharks have announced that Barabanov has been placed on injured reserve. In a corresponding move, the team has recalled veteran forward Ryan Carpenter to fill Barabanov’s spot on their roster.

Carpenter, 32, is a versatile and experienced depth forward who brings over 300 games of regular-season NHL experience and some playoff experience to boot.

10/25/23: It has been a rough start to the season for the Sharks as they are winless through the first six games.  They’ve also had a rough start on the injury front with Mikael Granlund injured in the season opener and Logan Couture yet to suit up.  Now, they’re down another key forward as head coach David Quinn told San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng that Alexander Barabanov will be out for a while; Peng reports that the winger sustained a broken finger.

The injury occurred near the end of Tuesday’s loss to Florida after a sequence that saw him block a high shot before taking two hits in quick succession.

Barabanov is off to a tough start himself as he has been held off the scoresheet for the first six games of the season, an unexpected outcome considering that he was coming off a career year that saw him record 47 points in 68 games.  The timing of the slow start plus the injury is hardly ideal as the 29-year-old is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

San Jose was carrying 13 forwards on their active roster prior to this news so they don’t necessarily have to make a move; Quinn noted to Peng that they won’t make a recall right away.  For now, Givani Smith figures to slot into the lineup or they could go with seven defenders.  But with Granlund recently suffering a setback in his recovery according to Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, it stands to reason that the Sharks may want to bring up another forward at some point in the coming days.

Snapshots: Vlasic, Ristolainen, Buchnevich

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Veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic is slated to be a healthy scratch for San Jose’s game against the Florida Panthers. It’s his first scratching since January 4, 2022 – when Vlasic was held out of a matchup against the Detroit Red Wings. He returned to the lineup in the team’s next game and appeared in 48 more games throughout the 2021-22 season.

San Jose dressed seven defenders in their most recent game and Vlasic proved the odd-man-out, receiving a team-low six minutes of ice time. The matchup was another trip in a tumbling year for the 36-year-old defenseman, who has lost games to injury and now a scratching this season. Vlasic is signed to an annual cap hit of $7MM through the 2025-26 season, with a modified-no trade clause in each of his final three seasons and a signing bonus in the final two. It’s a lofty contract for a player that will now find himself in a press box. Vlasic is a veteran of 1243 NHL games – all of which were spent with the Sharks franchise. He was a pivotal piece of the team’s hefty roster through the 2010s but may be looking back on his glory days at this point in his career. How the veteran responds to the healthy scratching will be worth following for Sharks fans hoping Vlasic can find ways to make an impact.

Other notes around the league:

Granlund (Lower Body) Accompanies Sharks On Road Trip

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  • While Sharks forward Mikael Granlund is on San Jose’s five-game road trip, there’s still no timeline for when he might return, mentions Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News. The 31-year-old played in the season opener but has been out with a lower-body injury since then; with Logan Couture still out, San Jose is down two of their top veterans.  Granlund has already been on IR for the minimum of seven days and will be eligible to return as soon as he is cleared.

Logan Couture, Mikael Granlund Uncertain For Upcoming Road Trip

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  • Logan Couture skated at the Sharks’ Thursday practice, shedding optimism on his ability to return soon. However, head coach David Quinn shared that the team isn’t certain whether Couture or fellow injured forward Mikael Granlund will be able to join the team on their upcoming five-game road trip. Granlund was placed on injured reserve on October 13th, making him ineligible for the Sharks’ Thursday night game, after he reaggravated a lower-body injury suffered during training camp.

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Sharks Place Radim Simek On Waivers, Assign Nikita Ohkotyuk On Conditioning Stint

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The San Jose Sharks placed defenseman Radim Simek on waivers today for the purpose of assignment to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, per a team release. They also loaned defense prospect Nikita Okhotyuk to the Barracuda for a conditioning stint.

San Jose placed Simek on injured reserve to open the season with a lower-body injury, but he was cleared to return today. The waiver placement is surprising, to say the least – Simek is in the final season of a four-year, $9MM extension and has been one of the more valuable shutdown defenders analytically for a Sharks team that’s struggled to keep the puck out of the net in recent seasons. It seems the team is more intent on giving opportunities to younger shutdown prospects, namely 23-year-old waiver claim Ty Emberson, who’s expected to make his NHL debut tonight against the Bruins.

Given his $2.25MM cap hit, it seems unlikely Simek will get claimed, but he would be a valuable contributor to a handful of teams looking for penalty-killing help. The 31-year-old Czech defender has experience playing both sides of the ice and should get a few offers in free agency next summer if he elects to stay in North America instead of continuing his career in Europe. He had a goal and two assists in 44 contests with the Sharks last season.

The 22-year-old Okhotyuk also landed on IR to start the season but is now ready to go. Acquired from the Devils as part of the Timo Meier trade last season, he has not yet played a game in the Sharks organization after a hernia prematurely ended his 2022-23 campaign. He’ll now get the chance to do so with the Barracuda and could see some NHL ice in San Jose soon enough. The 61st overall pick in 2019 made ten appearances with the Devils last season, recording his second NHL goal in the process.

Sharks No Longer Expected To Waive Kevin Labanc

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12:02 p.m.: Seravalli has backtracked his initial report, saying that the Sharks did inform Labanc’s camp this morning that he’d be placed on waivers but have now “reversed course.” Labanc is expected to make his season debut Thursday against Boston. Sharks general manager Mike Grier also contradicted Seravalli’s report, saying the team never planned on waiving him.

11:33 a.m.: Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports the Sharks will place winger Kevin Labanc on waivers today at 1 p.m. CT for the purposes of assignment to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.

Labanc, a sixth-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, quickly looked like a steal after exploding for back-to-back 100-plus point seasons in the OHL after his draft year. The transition to pro hockey was rather smooth, posting a point per game with the Barracuda in 2016-17 and potting 20 points in 55 games with the Sharks during his rookie season. His scoring would increase year-by-year until his peak in the 2018-19 campaign when he notched a career-high 17 goals and 56 points in 82 contests and played a key secondary scoring role in guiding the Sharks to the Western Conference Final, where they would fall to the eventual champion St. Louis Blues.

He was an RFA at the end of that season, but cap constraints forced him into taking just a one-year, $1MM contract to remain in San Jose. His value would, unfortunately, fall off a cliff in 2019-20, when he dropped to 33 points in 70 contests and posted an eye-opening -33 rating, but that didn’t stop then-Sharks GM Doug Wilson from signing him to a four-year, $4.725MM cap hit deal to remain in San Jose.

Over the life of that contract, he’s scored 30 goals and 67 points in 148 games while seeing his average ice time slip to third-line minutes. He was a healthy scratch at times near the end of last season after he put up 33 points in 72 games, and he has not played yet in 2023-24 after serving as a healthy scratch for the team’s first three contests.

With one season remaining on his deal, it’s extremely unlikely anyone will take a flyer on Labanc at such a rich cap hit. The Sharks will be able to bury $1.15MM of his $4.725MM hit in the minors, resulting in a cap charge of $3.575MM if he’s assigned to the Barracuda.

Pacific Notes: Pettersson, Okhotyuk, Labanc

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Canucks star center Elias Pettersson missed practice today as he was “a little bit banged up,” per head coach Rick Tocchet. However, there’s little concern about his availability for Thursday’s matchup against the Lightning.

Pettersson took friendly fire from defenseman Tyler Myers to one of his legs during last night’s shutout loss to the Flyers but seemed “unencumbered” today when walking around. Pettersson, 24, has been nothing short of electric through three games thus far, displaying an added layer of physical maturity to his game while leading the team in scoring with six points. Entering the final season of a three-year, $22.05MM contract, Pettersson is perhaps the best pending RFA on the market, and his willingness to sign long-term will be a significant storyline to monitor as the Canucks begin their campaign, which is off to an up-and-down start. They’re in relatively good shape with a 2-1-0 record thus far, but a rather dominant performance by the basement-dwelling Flyers on Tuesday did not inspire much confidence.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division on this Wednesday afternoon:

  • It appears Sharks defenseman Nikita Okhotyuk is gearing up to make his debut for the team after he was acquired in last season’s Timo Meier trade with the Devils. A late second-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, Okhotiuk sustained a sports hernia injury at the end of last season that prevented him from playing for either the Sharks or the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda after the trade, and a separate lower-body injury has kept him out of action since the beginning of the month. The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka says that Okhotiuk could be an option for Thursday’s game against the Bruins, likely the reason behind sending Henry Thrun to the minors earlier today. Okhotiuk remains on IR for the time being, and the Sharks needed to open a roster spot to activate him.
  • Staying with the Sharks, Pashelka also relays word from head coach David Quinn that winger Kevin Labanc will make his season debut against the Bruins after serving as a healthy scratch for the team’s first three games. Labanc, 27, is in the final season of a contract earning him $4.725MM per season, but his production has steadily declined from its 56-point peak in 2018-19, and he’s now fallen far out of favor with the Sharks’ coaching staff. He is, however, expected to get a look in the top six alongside Thomas Bordeleau and Filip Zadina.

Sharks Assign Henry Thrun To Minors

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CapFriendly relays that San Jose Sharks defender Henry Thrun has been assigned to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.

Thrun, 22, cracked the Sharks’ opening night roster after joining the team on an entry-level contract to end the 2022-23 season. After recording 31 points in 33 contests as a junior at Harvard, Thrun was ready to turn pro but informed the team that drafted him 101st overall in 2019 – the Anaheim Ducks – that he wasn’t willing to sign with them. Thus, the Ducks sent Thrun’s signing rights to the Sharks in exchange for a third-round pick at the end of February, and he put pen to paper with the Sharks after his collegiate season ended in March.

Across ten appearances thus far between this season and last, Thrun has notched four assists and has posted a relative Corsi share of 4.9% at even strength, meaning he’s managed to stand out as a positive possession force on a paper-thin Sharks blue line. Averaging 19:36 per game, the young Thrun has flashed the potential to end up in the Sharks’ top four long-term – certainly worth the price of admission they paid to the Ducks.

The Sharks, however, likely have some other depth blue-liners they’d like to give a look – namely, 23-year-old Ty Emberson, a shutdown defense prospect they claimed off waivers from the Rangers before the season. Emberson has served as a healthy scratch for the Sharks’ first three games, but with Thrun now set to play top minutes with the Barracuda for the time being, Emberson is likely to enter the lineup for Thursday’s game against the Bruins.

Thrun will be a restricted free agent at season’s end and is due a qualifying offer of $874,125, per CapFriendly.

Marc-Édouard Vlasic Will Not Play Tuesday

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  • Sharks defenseman Marc-Édouard Vlasic practiced with the team this morning but is not expected to suit up Tuesday night against the Hurricanes, The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka reports. Vlasic did not play the final two periods of the Sharks’ shootout loss at the hands of the Avalanche Saturday and is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. 22-year-old Henry Thrun will step into Vlasic’s place on the Sharks’ second pairing alongside Matt Benning after the former was scratched against Colorado.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic To Miss Tuesday Game

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William Carrier was spotted in a no-contact jersey at Vegas’ Monday practice, taking reps in his usual fourth-line role. He’s been announced as a game-time decision for the team’s next game. Of note, fellow Golden Knight Alex Pietrangelo was absent from the practice. Pietrangelo had a scary moment in the team’s Thursday night game against the San Jose Sharks when a high hit from Nicolas Hague left the defender bloodied.

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