AHL Shuffle: 03/21/22
It’s certainly a busy day in the NHL today with the trade deadline just hours away plus four games on the schedule. There will be considerable roster movement on the trade front while there will be plenty of paper moves made prior to the 2 PM CT deadline made to give players eligibility to play in the minors down the stretch. We’ll keep track of those moves here.
Atlantic Division
Metropolitan Division
- The Penguins announced (Twitter link) that they’ve sent winger Radim Zohorna to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. The 25-year-old has three points in a dozen games this season with Pittsburgh while adding 15 points in 31 minor league contests.
- The Washington Capitals re-assigned forward Brett Leason to the Hershey Bears of the AHL (link). Leason had just been recalled by the Capitals yesterday, but the re-assignment could be to simply keep Leason’s AHL eligibility for the remainder of the season intact.
Central Division
- The Predators have sent defenseman Jeremy Davies back to Milwaukee, per the AHL’s transactions log. Davies was brought up on Saturday but with Nashville adding Jeremy Lauzon from Seattle late on Sunday, the 25-year-old can head back to the minors.
- The Dallas Stars have sent goaltender Adam Scheel back to the AHL after acquiring Scott Wedgewood yesterday. Scheel, 22, has up as an emergency backup and never actually saw any NHL action. The young netminder is in his first full season of professional hockey.
- The Winnipeg Jets have reassigned Ville Heinola, Jeff Malott, and Kristian Reichel have all been reassigned to the minor leagues, making them eligible. Notably, Cole Perfetti is not with this group, suggesting that his time in the minor leagues is over after impressing so far.
- After making several trades in the past 24 hours, the Arizona Coyotes have recalled two players from the Tuscon Roadrunners of the AHL: forward Michael Carcone and goaltender Josef Korenar. Carcone has played just two games at the NHL level, both coming this season, however he has been a productive AHL player, tallying 24 goals and 17 assists in 48 games with Tuscon this season. Korenar has not played in the NHL yet this season, but did play in 10 games for the San Jose Sharks in 2020-21 and was moved to Arizona this offseason as part of the Adin Hill trade.
- Having traded goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to the Minnesota Wild, the Chicago Blackhawks have recalled goaltender Collin Delia from the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. Delia has had a solid season playing for Rockford, but has only appeared in two NHL games thus far in 2021-22.
Pacific Division
- The Kraken announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Kole Lind from AHL Charlotte. Lind has played in seven games with Seattle this season after being their pick in expansion from Vancouver but has spent most of the year in the minors. Seattle has also activated winger Joonas Donskoi off injured reserve.
- The Edmonton Oilers have recalled Brad Malone from the AHL after he played a game with the Bakersfield Condors over the weekend. The 32-year-old is actually the captain of the minor league club, but after converting his contract to an NHL deal has played six games for the Oilers.
- Jake Leschyshyn and Brayden Pachal are heading back up to the Vegas Golden Knights. Leschyshyn’s seen a lot of NHL opportunities this year, getting into 27 games this year and notching his first five NHL points. Pachal made his NHL debut recently before immediately getting sent back down, but he may get another chance here in some NHL games.
- The San Jose Sharks announced they have re-assigned goaltender Zach Sawchenko to the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL. In addition to this, the team recalled forward Sasha Chmelevski and defenseman Ryan Merkley from the Barracuda, and activated Radim Simek off of injured-reserve.
- After placing Michael Amadio and Zach Whitecloud in COVID protocol and trading away Evgenii Dadonov, the Vegas Golden Knights announced they have called up four players: forwards Paul Cotter and Jonas Rondbjerg and defensemen Daniil Miromanov and Zack Hayes. Of this group, only Hayes does not have any NHL playing experience, spending this season and last in the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights, and the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL before that.
- The Vancouver Canucks also made a flurry of AHL assignments, primarily for the purpose of keeping players’ AHL ability alive. The organization announced it assigned forwards Sheldon Rempal, Vasily Podkolzin, and Nic Petan, as well as defenseman Noah Juulsen to the Abbotsford Canucks. Podkolzin and Petan were immediately recalled back to Vancouver.
- The Anaheim Ducks announced they have recalled forward Danny O’Regan from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL. O’Regan, 28, has played parts of four seasons dating back to 2016-17, including four games this season with Anaheim.
This post will be updated throughout the day.
Latest On James Reimer's Trade Market
- The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported that interest in San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer had been picking up, however he’s not sure if the Sharks will end up wanting to move the goaltender. Reimer has another season at $2.25MM left on his contract and has performed well for the rebuilding Sharks. After a promising start tot he season, the Sharks have fallen off, however they could be in line to turn the corner on their rebuild faster than expected, and keeping Reimer around could help to facilitate that. On the other hand, several teams are in need of goaltending, and Reimer’s extra year at an incredibly fair $2.25MM cap hit could land San Jose a return that is too good not to take.
San Jose Sharks Listening To Offers On Barabanov, Others
- The San Jose Sharks haven’t had any talks on a new deal for pending unrestricted free agent Alexander Barabanov, per The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka. Assistant general manager Joe Will, who’s in effect the team’s interim GM while Doug Wilson is away on a medical leave of absence, knows that “[the team] is trying to replenish” and is listening to offers on many other pending UFAs as well. Barabanov’s continued a strong end to the 2020-21 campaign after being acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs, posting 30 points in 51 games while receiving top-six minutes. It could be a bit of buyer beware in this case, though, as many advanced metrics suggest the 27-year-old’s production can be strongly attributed to playing with Tomas Hertl.
Setback For Adin Hill, To Miss At Least One Week
Sharks goaltender Adin Hill returned to the lineup on Saturday and recorded a 29-save shutout over Los Angeles. However, it appears he hasn’t fully recovered from the lower-body injury that kept him out for 15 games as Corey Masisak of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the netminder has suffered a setback and will be out for at least a week. The team isn’t considering shutting him down for the season at this point and surgery isn’t on the table at this time so fortunately for San Jose, it would appear the setback is a minor one. James Reimer and Zachary Sawchenko will serve as the goalie tandem for the Sharks for the time being.
San Jose Sharks Sign Long-Term Extension With Tomas Hertl
The San Jose Sharks have maintained throughout the early part of the season that they would work hard to extend Tomas Hertl instead of trading him, and they have followed through on that promise. The two sides have agreed on an eight-year extension that will keep Hertl in San Jose through the 2029-30 season. Though the team did not immediately report the financial terms of the deal, but Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that it will carry an average annual value of $8,137,500. The deal also includes a full no-movement clause in the first three years and a limited no-trade clause in the last five.
Acting general manager Joe Will released a lengthy statement on the deal, which includes:
By agreeing to this contract, Tomas is cementing his path with the Sharks, following in the footsteps of some incredible players who have worn the Sharks crest. He has shown that he wants to play in San Jose for years to come and it shows his dedication to the organization and community since he joined the team in 2012. We are thrilled to have Tomas for another eight years.
Hertl, 28, is in the final season of a four-year, $22.5MM contract signed in 2018 that carries a cap hit of $5.625MM. Notably, that deal includes a no-trade clause that allows the Sharks’ forward to block deals to all but three teams in the league. That would have made trading him even more difficult, though there never did seem to be an appetite for a split from either party.
While he has slowed down considerably over the last two months, Hertl is still having an excellent season with 25 goals and 48 points in 59 games for the Sharks, trailing only Timo Meier in terms of offensive output. He’s now being rewarded for his strong play with a contract very similar to captain Logan Couture, the team’s other star center that carries much of the offensive load. With Evander Kane‘s contract off the books (pending a grievance), the Sharks did have some extra cap space to spend.
Still, signing another big-money, long-term deal will certainly raise eyebrows. The Sharks aren’t really in the playoff race this season and now have five players on the books through at least 2024-25 at a cap hit of $7MM or more. Hertl is actually the youngest of that group and is still now signed through his age-36 season. It’s hard to really know what direction the team is going; maybe those veteran talents are enough to carry them to the next level, or perhaps they’re going to turn into anchors that keep the Sharks at the bottom of the Pacific for years to come.
At any rate, Hertl gets to stay with the only franchise he’s ever known, and continue to pile up points as one of the team’s most important players. He has scored 371 points in his 562-game career, numbers that already put him seventh among the Sharks’ all-time scoring leaders. He has a long way to go to catch some of the players in front of him–Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton lead the group at 1,111 and 1,055 points respectively–but another eight years could very well mean he spends his entire career in San Jose.
For the rest of the NHL, a top trade target comes off the board, making other centers all the more valuable before Monday’s deadline. If teams were interested in the Sharks forward, they’ll have to pivot over the next few days.
Other pending free agents like Nazem Kadri also must be smiling when they see Hertl’s number come up, as there are certainly some red flags with a deal like this. Not only is he now signed well into the normal decline phase of an NHL player but Hertl also has never even scored at a point-per-game rate. His closes was in 2018-19 when he had 35 goals and 74 points in 77 games, and no one doubts his talent as a difference-maker. But someone like Kadri, with 73 points in 58 game this season, or even top free agent wingers like Johnny Gaudreau (78 points in 59 games) and Filip Forsberg (55 points in 47 games) should all be able to demand huge salaries this summer as the league’s finances start to rebound.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Adin Hill Activated, Dzingel And Stalock Assigned To AHL
The San Jose Sharks announced that they have activated goaltender Adin Hill off of IR today. In a corresponding move, goaltender Alex Stalock has been assigned to the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL. Additionally, forward Ryan Dzingel, who cleared waivers, has been assigned to the Barracuda as well.
Hill last played on January 22nd when he was injured in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Stalock had been brought in through a March 2nd trade with the Edmonton Oilers, but had only played in one game for the Sharks, where he gave up six goals to the Nashville Predators in a losing effort. For Dzingel, it’s has been a strange few weeks, having been traded from the Arizona Coyotes to the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 19th and immediately placed on waivers, then claimed by the Sharks. Dzingel played in six games for the Sharks, scoring a goal, before being placed on waivers yesterday, and clearing today.
Ryan Dzingel Clears Waivers
Saturday: Dzingel has cleared waivers, Friedman reports. He’s now eligible to be sent to the Barracuda of the AHL.
Friday: After finding himself a healthy scratch again recently, Ryan Dzingel is now on waivers according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Because he was claimed by the San Jose Sharks themselves, the Toronto Maple Leafs now have an opportunity to potentially claim him and send him directly to the minor leagues. They’ll only be able to do that if they are the only team that puts in a claim though, so his future isn’t yet clear.
It’s been an odd year for Dzingel, who signed a one-year, $1.1MM contract with the Arizona Coyotes in the offseason. After playing in 26 games and not really finding his footing with the Coyotes, he was included in a trade that saw Ilya Lyubushkin head to Toronto. Before even getting on a plane, the 30-year-old forward was put on waivers, where the Sharks claimed him as they dealt with some forward injuries. Now, after just six games with the Sharks, he’s available to the whole league once again.
In this case, that $1.1MM cap hit actually works against him, as teams won’t want to carry the extra money if he’s not a regular in the lineup. If he’s claimed tomorrow he’ll have to stay on the active roster, at least for anyone but the Maple Leafs. For Toronto, who were open about the fact that they hoped to slip him through waivers and stash him in the minor leagues after the trade, he could be a valuable injury replacement option.
Still, it’s a far fall for a player who scored 49 goals over a two-season stretch just a few years ago and was traded for Anthony Duclair and two second-round picks in 2019. Dzingel has struggled ever since, and has just five goals and eight points in 32 total games this season.
Alex Stalock Sent To The AHL
- The Sharks have returned goaltender Alex Stalock to San Jose of the AHL, per the AHL’s transactions log. The veteran was acquired from Edmonton to serve as goalie depth with both Adin Hill and James Reimer injured. Hill is set to return tonight so Stalock will head to the Barracuda. The 34-year-old was expected to miss the entire season due to a heart condition but returned to action last month.
Adin Hill Should Return Saturday, James Reimer Could Play Next Week
The Sharks are set to get some much-needed good news on the injury front when it comes to their goaltending as Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News relays that Adin Hill is likely to start tomorrow against Los Angeles. He has missed the last seven weeks with a lower-body injury and had posted a 2.78 GAA along with a .901 SV% in 24 games.
Meanwhile, James Reimer has resumed on-ice workouts and could be cleared to return at some point next week from his own lower-body injury sustained at the beginning of the month. Since then, the Sharks have gone with veteran Alex Stalock and prospect Zachary Sawchenko who picked up his first career NHL victory on Thursday.
Jacob Middleton Drawing Trade Interest
When discussing the San Jose Sharks and the trade deadline, usually the focus is put on pending unrestricted free agent Tomas Hertl. While the Sharks continue to try and sign Hertl to a long-term deal instead of making him available for trade, it’s easy to forget that there are several other names on the roster that could draw interest as March 21 approaches.
One of those is Jacob Middleton, as Pierre LeBrun explained in the latest edition of Insider Trading for TSN:
An under-the-radar name for the San Jose Sharks that is garnering interest: defenseman Jake Middleton, who has partnered with both Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns at times this year. He’s part of that penalty killing crew that ranks second in the NHL, he’s an RFA at the end of the year, he’s making only $725K. He’s a bit of an oldschool, physical brand that teams heading to the playoffs like to stash on their roster. Among the teams that have kicked tires I’m told, are Tampa Bay, Boston, and St. Louis.
Middleton, 26, is actually making $750K this season of course but carries a cap hit of just $725K. He’s also one of the many players that could become a Group VI unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, should he fail to play in another 20 games before the end of the year. That certainly could complicate trade talks, as the Sharks have just six games before the trade deadline. Any acquiring team would have to know that he can’t be added as a press box depth piece with the expectation that he’ll be around as an RFA; he needs to play in order to retain that status.
Still, it’s easy to see why some teams would be interested in the 6’3″ defenseman. Not only does his cap hit come in lower than the league minimum salary, meaning he’d fit into the financial situation for basically every team in the league–whoever he was replacing on the roster would make at least as much as him, likely more–but he’s also stepped into a fairly substantial role in San Jose as they dealt with so many injuries on defense. Having never played more than 10 NHL games in a season before this year, he’s suited up 39 times and averages nearly 19 minutes a night. Just this week, he logged more than 25 minutes in an overtime loss against the Anaheim Ducks, blocking seven shots in the process.
With the Sharks falling completely out of the race with a poor last couple of weeks, the team will likely try to sell off any expiring pieces. If Middleton doesn’t figure prominently into their future plans–or, alternatively if they’re worried he won’t reach that games played threshold as Karlsson and others prepare to return–a trade would seem like the prudent move.