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San Jose Sharks Sign Oskar Lindblom

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After being bought out by the Philadelphia Flyers, Oskar Lindblom is getting a fresh start. He has signed a two-year contract with the San Jose Sharks and Pierre LeBrun adds that it will carry a $2.5MM average annual value.

General manager Mike Grier released a statement:

Oskar is a proven forward who can provide offensive upside in the middle of our lineup. He has overcome significant obstacles in his young career and his strength and desire to play hockey is immeasurable. We are happy to have him join our organization.

Lindblom was once one of the more promising young forwards in the Flyers organization, outperforming his fifth-round pick status and scoring 17 goals and 33 points in 2018-19. Lindblom showed an ability to effectively use his size and strength to create chances and looked like a potential middle-six scoring option with room to grow.

Then, Lindblom was hit with an immense challenge. In December 2019, Lindblom was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma and had to focus his energy, not on his battles on the ice but on his new fight off of it. Lindblom’s story rallied the entire hockey world behind him, and he eventually made his return to Philadelphia’s lineup, even featuring in the team’s three-round run in the 2020 playoffs. Lindblom won the 2021 Bill Masterton Trophy, but unfortunately, the end of his tenure in Philadelphia serves as a sobering reminder that hockey is a business above all else.

Since returning from his absence, Lindblom has been unable to rediscover the form that made him such a promising young player in 2018-19. Lindblom had 12 goals and 26 points in 2021-22, not bad production by any means but certainly not worth the $3MM they were paying him. Working against Lindblom as well was the fact that the Flyers would not only get out from under the full weight of his $3MM cap hit, but they would also get a small cap credit as well from buying him out.

So the math became simple for GM Chuck Fletcher, paving the way for Lindblom to land in San Jose. For the Sharks, if Lindblom can rediscover the form he showed earlier in his career he can be an important player in their lineup. But even if he doesn’t, $2.5MM isn’t an unreasonable price to pay for what he will provide.

Carolina Hurricanes Acquire Brent Burns

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11:55am: The deal is now complete, according to LeBrun. The Hurricanes will receive Burns and Lane Pederson in exchange for Steven Lorentz, Eetu Makiniemi, and a conditional 2023 third-round pick. The Sharks will retain one-third of Burns’ remaining contract.

10:30am: While Carolina moved a notable defenseman at the draft when they sent Anthony DeAngelo to Philadelphia, it appears they’ve found his replacement.  Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the Hurricanes are close to acquiring Brent Burns from San Jose.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds (Twitter link) that Carolina isn’t on Burns’ three-team trade list but it appears he’ll be willing to waive his trade protection to facilitate a move.  LeBrun adds (via Twitter) that multiple players are involved in the swap.

Burns has been a staple on the back end for the Sharks for more than a decade as an all-situations defender that logs heavy minutes.  A three-time Norris finalist (and one-time winner), the 37-year-old is coming off a pretty strong season as he led all San Jose defenders in scoring with 10 goals and 44 assists in 82 games in 2021-22 while logging a career-high 26:09 per game.

The reason that San Jose is moving him is his contract.  Burns still has three years left on his contract with a cap hit of $8MM and with the Sharks not having a lot of financial flexibility, it was expected that they’d try to move one of their three pricey veterans on the back end.  With both Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic coming off tough seasons that have them on negative-value contracts, Burns was the logical one to try to move.

With Carolina, Burns shouldn’t be counted on to log anywhere near the type of minutes he did in San Jose with the Hurricanes and he could fit in nicely on their second pairing behind Brett Pesce.  He would certainly help replace the minutes that DeAngelo logged last season while being able to help cover the offensive gap left behind as well.

More to follow.

Teams “Kicking Tires” On Brent Burns

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After new San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier explained yesterday that he’ll let Brent Burns “lead the way” on his future, speculation has drummed up around the league. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweeted earlier today that the Carolina Hurricanes are kicking tires on Burns (and Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry) as they look to replace the offense that left with Tony DeAngelo, while Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia notes that the Ottawa Senators have done the same.

The team most often linked is the Dallas Stars, who are losing John Klingberg this offseason and have some clear connections to Burns through head coach Peter DeBoer and veteran forward Joe Pavelski.

While Grier might be letting Burns take the lead, getting out from his contract certainly wouldn’t be the worst thing for the Sharks, as they try to move forward in a different direction. The 37-year-old defensemen has three years left on his deal and carries an $8MM cap hit, though the actual salary owed is much less. Burns will earn just $16.5MM over the last three seasons of the eight-year, $64MM contract, and $3.5MM of that was in the form of a signing bonus already paid this summer.

Though his is not a full no-trade clause, Burns does have almost full control of the situation. He submits a list of just three teams that he can be traded to on July 1 of every year.

The part that makes Burns’ future so interesting is that despite his age, he is still an effective player. He recorded 54 points last season while still averaging more than 26 minutes a night and actually saw his deployment skew more defensive than in years past. In a more sheltered, offensive role, perhaps he could be even more effective for a contending team.

While the focus now is on free agency that starts in under 24 hours, there will be a number of trades also going down over the next few weeks. Whether Burns stays in San Jose appears to be completely up in the air at the moment.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Michael Del Zotto, Rudolfs Balcers To Be Bought Out

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In addition to Janne Kuokkanen and Oskar Lindblom, who were announced earlier today, two more players are on waivers today for the purpose of a buyout. The Ottawa Senators will buy out Michael Del Zotto, while the San Jose Sharks will be buying out Rudolfs Balcers, according to Chris Johnston of TSN.

For Del Zotto and the Senators, a buyout will result in a $500K cap penalty in 2022-23 and a $750K penalty in 2023-24, but saves the team some money and cap space for the upcoming season. It never really did work out for the veteran defensemen there, and after clearing waivers he ended up playing most of the 2021-22 season in the minor leagues.

He’ll now be a free agent, able to try and secure an NHL deal somewhere else, while still earning a $750K paycheck from the Senators for each of the next two years. Not a bad deal for the 32-year-old, who could be looking at his ninth NHL team, should he sign with someone other than the Senators, New York Rangers, Nashville Predators, Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, Anaheim Ducks, St. Louis Blues, or Columbus Blue Jackets.

Balcers meanwhile will be almost completely wiped off the books for San Jose, as his age means they are only on the hook for one-third of his remaining $1.85MM salary. For 2022-23, the Sharks will face a penalty of just $8,334 and in 2023-24, just $308,334. Those are certainly worthwhile prices to pay to clear his contract off the books as they look to other players for bottom-six contributions.

Mike Grier To Discuss, Allow Brent Burns To Dictate His Future

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As the San Jose Sharks look to turn a corner with the franchise, not necessarily declaring a rebuild, rumors surrounding superstar defensemen Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson have turned up in recent months, with some speculating the Sharks could try to deal one of them. That speculation didn’t seem too off-base, but with the Sharks without a GM for the first time in nearly 20 years and still searching, it was unclear if the team would want to make that sort of franchise-altering trade before making the hire, and if the new hire would want to do such a thing as well.

Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News had a chance to speak to the new man in charge in that of Sharks GM Mike Grier, who touched on Burns’ future in San Jose. Grier said that he would speak with Burns soon and let him lead the way on whether or not he wanted to be dealt, understanding if the former Norris winner wanted to win now, but adding that he had been a “great Shark.” Burns, who has a modified no-trade clause, does in effect lead the way already in this situation, but Grier’s comments show that San Jose is ready to proceed in either direction with the 37-year-old, depending on how their conversation turns out. The defenseman has three more years at $8MM per season left on his contract.

San Jose Sharks Hire Doug Weight As Senior Advisor

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  • Craig Johnson was not the only Johnson the Ducks hired today, with the team also announcing the hire of Jim Johnson as Director of Player Development. Jim Johnson has held numerous roles in coaching between USA in the USNTDP and at several World Junior Championships, as well as in the NHL, spending time as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers, and most recently, the St. Louis Blues. In addition to his time behind the bench, he spent parts of thirteen seasons in the NHL, getting into 829 games as a defenseman.
  • Earlier today, news broke that Doug Wilson Jr. was no longer with the Sharks as their Scouting Director (link). It does appear the organization has added a new name to its front office, however, with former NHL star Doug Weight joining the organization as a senior advisor to the hockey ops department, says The Athletic’s Corey Masisak (link). Masisak points out that Weight had played several seasons alongside new Sharks GM Mike Grier while the two were with the Edmonton Oilers. Weight also spent time as an advisor and assistant GM with the New York Islanders before becoming the team’s Head Coach after Jack Capuano was fired during the 2016-17 season.

Sharks Might Non-Tender Jonathan Dahlen

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  • While Sharks winger Jonathan Dahlen had a decent rookie season with 12 goals and 10 assists in 61 games, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now reports that the team is considering non-tendering him by tomorrow’s deadline. Even though he has only been in the NHL for one year, this is his fourth year on an NHL contract which gives him salary arbitration rights.  While Dahlen couldn’t command a significant increase on his league-minimum salary from this past season, San Jose likely will want to keep the last few spots on their roster at low salary slots so whatever raise he could get from an arbitrator may be more than they can afford to allocate.

Sharks Open To Carrying Three Goalies To Start Next Season

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While there was some trade activity in recent days with goaltenders, the Sharks weren’t among the teams involved.  That might come as some surprise as the team has three NHL netminders in Adin Hill, James Reimer, and pending RFA Kaapo Kahkonen.  However, GM Mike Grier told reporters after the draft including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News that there’s no guarantee he’ll move one of them in the coming weeks:

Hill and Reimer each have one year left on their contracts at $2.175MM and $2.25MM respectively and will be unrestricted free agents in 2023.  The Sharks could move one of them and in the process, give themselves a bit more flexibility this summer.  If not, this could be a repeat of 2003 when they carried three goalies to start the season when they had Evgeni Nabokov, Vesa Toskala, and Miikka Kiprusoff with the latter eventually being moved to Calgary.

Latest On Marc-Edouard Vlasic

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  • Earlier in July, we covered the San Jose Sharks’ situation with defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and whether he would be bought out by the team after 16 seasons in teal. Today, Vlasic told The Athletic’s Corey Masisiak that “it doesn’t look like” he’ll be bought out and that he’s “excited” for a fresh start under a new coaching staff and a new GM in Mike Grier, who he played with for three seasons. Vlasic’s past few years haven’t been up to the standard he established earlier in his career. If the Sharks have any hope of returning to contention next season, as the organization fully intends to do, Vlasic will need to play like the $7MM defenseman he once was.

San Jose Sharks Acquire Luke Kunin

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The San Jose Sharks have landed another depth forward, acquiring Luke Kunin from the Nashville Predators. The Sharks will be sending back John Leonard and a 2023 third-round pick.

Kunin, 24, is a restricted free agent this summer, coming off a two-year deal that carried a $2.3MM cap hit. He’ll need a qualifying offer worth the same amount and is eligible for salary arbitration, though the Sharks could also work out a contract before that is necessary.

While he hasn’t exactly lived up to his billing as the 15th overall pick in 2016, Kunin’s game has developed to the point where he is an effective bottom-six option. This year, he seemingly decided to lean into the physical side of the game, racking up 223 hits and 99 penalty minutes–nearly doubling his career totals.

Still able to contribute around the net, he also potted 13 goals, the third-straight double-digit total for the young forward. As the Sharks start to form a new identity under general manager Mike Grier, Kunin’s toughness and versatility will come in handy.

For the Predators, landing a depth forward and a third-round pick certainly makes up for it. Leonard, 23, has 58 games of NHL experience and was a strong performer for the San Jose Barracuda this year. He too will need a contract and is arbitration-eligible but doesn’t have much of a case for anything over the league minimum.

By moving Kunin out, the team has opened up some additional cap space as they fit in Ryan McDonagh and continue to speak with Filip Forsberg.

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