The San Jose Sharks are one of the most active teams on the market right now, and it’s not only because of Timo Meier. The team is expected to make several other moves, targeting young, cost-controlled NHL assets if possible. They’ve been linked heavily to Dante Fabbro of the Nashville Predators, and David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period also believes they are interested in Jordan Greenway of the Minnesota Wild.
Sharks Rumors
Latest On Timo Meier
The Timo Meier trade saga seems to be finally reaching a conclusion. While no trade is believed to be imminent, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the San Jose Sharks “are down to two teams” in Meier trade talks: The New Jersey Devils and Vegas Golden Knights.
Worth noting is the fact that Vegas not only shares a division with San Jose, they also are one of the team’s fiercest rivals. While it’s definitely reasonable to expect some fans to accept a Meier-to-Vegas trade if taking Vegas’ offer is in the best interests of the Sharks, it’s also easy to see a significant portion of the fanbase in uproar should the team’s most talented forward be handed over to such a hated rival.
One wonders, then, if the Sharks will require a higher standard of offer from the Golden Knights in order to be willing to trade him in-division, and how much higher that expectation might be.
Latest On Timo Meier
With the announcement that Timo Meier wouldn’t play tonight coming earlier today, speculation ran rampant across sports media about where and when he would be traded. Fans will likely have to wait a bit longer, as Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the move isn’t expected to come tonight. The San Jose Sharks are celebrating Patrick Marleau’s career tonight with a jersey retirement ceremony and don’t want to take focus away from their franchise icon.
That said, it’ll be hard to keep Sharks fans’ attention on anything other than the potential trade of their current star winger. Corey Masisak of The Athletic reports that multiple other teams believe the New Jersey Devils are still the favorite to land Meier when the deal is officially completed.
For weeks, the Devils have been linked to Meier with the caveat of a contract extension. New Jersey was more interested in him as a long-term play, than just a player to help the club this season. Meier, of course, isn’t really a rental either way, as he will be a restricted free agent in the summer—provided an acquiring team is willing to issue the $10MM qualifying offer he is owed.
Meier is also dealing with an upper-body injury which is likely part of the reason for him sitting out, though asset protection certainly comes into play with the deadline so close. As the most significant chip on the market, the Sharks will want to make sure any minor ailments don’t slow down the process.
Timo Meier Won't Play Tonight
- The Sharks will be without winger Timo Meier tonight, reports Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). The 26-year-old is having another strong season, notching 31 goals and 21 assists in 57 games and is four goals shy of his career-high which was set last year. Meier is a pending restricted free agent that’s owed a $10MM qualifying offer this summer but only a $6MM AAV this season. Acquiring teams will likely want to get a long-term deal below that but as of yet, San Jose is not believed to have granted interested squads a chance to negotiate an extension with Meier’s camp. He’s currently nursing an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day so it’s unlikely he’ll suit up before the deadline for precautionary reasons.
San Jose Sharks Activate Radim Simek
The San Jose Sharks have activated defenseman Radim Simek off of injured reserve. Simek hasn’t seen the ice in 2023 yet for the Sharks, so with this activation, he’ll get his chance to return to coach David Quinn’s lineup.
The 30-year-old Czech blueliner has appeared in nearly 200 career NHL games and has seen the ice 31 times for the Sharks this season. He’s registered two points in that span, averaging just under 15 minutes of ice time per game. Within those fifteen-or-so minutes typically comes around a minute of shorthanded ice time per game.
Simek has been with the Sharks organization since 2017-18, the season when he was plucked from the Czech Extraliga after having an extremely successful final two seasons with Bili Tygri Liberec. He’s dealt with quite a few injuries during his time in the Bay Area, and while he’s certainly not been bad when he’s been healthy the lack of consistent availability has been a lingering issue throughout his career in North America.
The Sharks currently have Scott Harrington, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Mario Ferraro, and Jacob MacDonald in the lineup as left-shot blueliners, so it’s not immediately clear where Simek fits in the lineup picture just yet. But getting him back into game shape after a relatively lengthy injury is certainly a positive development for the Sharks.
Snapshots: Marleau, Roy, Olofsson, Murray
Patrick Marleau spent the majority of his playing career with the San Jose Sharks, and it sounds like he would be open to returning to the organisation in retirement. The legendary Sharks forward is the all-time leader in goals, points and games played for the club. He spent 21 seasons playing for the Sharks, helping them to a Stanley Cup Final in 2016.
Marleau retired following the 2020-21 season and will have his number retired by the team on Saturday night. The city of San Jose was honoring him ahead of his number being retired on Saturday night, and announced Feb. 25 will be Patrick Marleau Day in San Jose. When addressing the crowd, Marleau was asked if he would return to the organisation and said it was something he would definitely be interested in doing. He then joked he would have to find something he is good at first.
- Nicolas Roy is out of the Vegas Golden Knights lineup with an injury. The center has been listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury as per an update on the team’s Twitter page. The 26-year-old center has 11 goals and 25 points in 54 games this season. The Golden Knights are already a little depleted up front with Mark Stone and Nolan Patrick out long term. It doesn’t sound like Roy’s injury will keep him out for an extended period, but it further weakens the roster as they get set to host the Calgary Flames tonight.
- The Dallas Stars have sent down a couple of depth players. Fredrik Olofsson and Matt Murray have been loaned to the Texas Stars. Both players were called up on an emergency basis yesterday to face the Chicago Blackhawks. Olofsson had three shots on goal and Murray served as Jake Oettinger’s backup in a 4-3 loss.
Timo Meier Questionable For Tomorrow's Game
- Top trade candidate Timo Meier is questionable for tomorrow’s San Jose Sharks vs. Nashville Predators contest due to an upper-body injury, relays The Athletic’s Corey Masisiak. This is a situation to monitor for fans across the NHL, as Meier is one of the most sought-after players currently available on the trade market. The Swiss winger has scored 52 points in 57 games and one has to hope that any injury Meier is dealing with proves to be just a minor setback.
Latest On Erik Karlsson
Edmonton Oilers fans’ dreams of two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson being traded to oil country might have to wait to become a reality. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period is reporting that a deal between the Oilers and San Jose Sharks for Karlsson is considered “unlikely,” for mainly financial reasons. Pagnotta reports that while the Sharks are willing to retain two or three million dollars off of Karlsson’s deal, the Oilers want the Sharks to retain a more significant portion, around $5MM, if not more.
As a result, Pagnotta says that “it sounds like there haven’t been any recent serious discussions between the two clubs as a result” of those financial disagreements. The rationale for the Oilers to want to acquire Karlsson is very real, as he’s a Norris Trophy frontrunner with 76 points in 58 games. But asking San Jose to take on such a large number of dead cap dollars for the foreseeable future is a major ask, and it’s understandable that the Sharks balked at the prospect of making such a deal. According to Pagnotta, the Oilers could be pivoting to new targets, such as Anaheim Ducks defenseman John Klingberg, and Arizona Coyotes blueliner Shayne Gostisbehere.
Latest On Timo Meier
As we’ve discussed for weeks, the St. Louis Blues aren’t really looking at a rebuild. The team has committed too much to the young core already in place, and was just using an opportunistic approach at the deadline. This isn’t their year, and instead of committing more money to expiring veteran contracts, they flipped them to grab some extra assets.
St. Louis may not end up using those draft picks to select young players though. Instead, they could leverage them to land some NHL help to load up for next year. Today, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported as much, noting that the Blues have now emerged as a player in the Timo Meier sweepstakes. Meier has plenty of interested parties, though some—like the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers—have already made substantial additions and may have fallen out of the race.
The Blues have essentially weakened the market for Meier by making those trades, and now could use the extra picks acquired by dealing Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, Noel Acciari, and Niko Mikkola to land the big winger themselves. The New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes remain in the mix, along with other teams that could benefit from Meier’s top-end talent.
It’s most interesting because the Blues don’t have a ton of wiggle room for next season, when the extensions for Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou kick in. The $10MM qualifying offer Meier is owed would still be difficult to swallow for a team that already has $70.8MM committed to 14 players. Perhaps a long-term extension at a lower AAV would work, but if St. Louis did acquire Meier, they might end up shipping some other pieces out the door before next season starts.
With every new team interested, the Sharks have more due diligence to do, slowing down any potential movement. We’re now ten days away from the deadline and San Jose still holds the biggest chip on the market.
San Jose Sharks Reassign Nick Cicek
Feb 21: Cicek has been returned to the AHL today, but Kaut stays for now. The latter’s San Jose debut went well, with Kaut playing more than 14 minutes in a win against the Seattle Kraken.
Feb 20: The San Jose Sharks may have a few absences today as Timo Meier deals with an upper-body injury, and Kevin Labanc was away for the birth of a child. Martin Kaut and Nick Cicek have been recalled from the minor leagues to give them some extra bodies.
This is Kaut’s first recall with the Sharks since being acquired last month from the Colorado Avalanche. In seven games with the San Jose Barracuda, the 23-year-old forward has put up six points – continuing his history of strong play in the minor leagues. Selected 16th overall in 2018, Kaut has never been able to translate that production to the NHL, however, scoring just three goals in 47 career games with the Avalanche.
In San Jose, he might have a much bigger opportunity, especially if the Sharks decide to sell several assets at the deadline. The story isn’t completely written on Kaut yet, but time is running out for him to live up to the sky-high potential from his draft year. He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer and turns 24 before next season is set to begin, so if he wants to be a regular with the Sharks, this may be his best opportunity to prove it.
Cicek has bounced back and forth all season, playing in 15 games so far for the Sharks and recording four assists. The undrafted defenseman has shown well during his short professional career, adding physicality to the lineup in limited minutes. Still just 22, it has been an impressive rise for the former Portland Winterhawk, though the offense he produced at the AHL level in 2021-22 has completely disappeared. Through 21 games with the Barracuda this season, Cicek has just a single assist.