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.
Erik Karlsson Could Return Thursday
- Erik Karlsson could be back this week as well, as San Jose Sharks head coach Bob Boughner told reporters including Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group that the veteran defenseman could suit up on Thursday. Karlsson was in the midst of a bounce-back season before undergoing forearm surgery in January and hasn’t played in nearly two months. In his first 33 games, the two-time Norris Trophy winner had 26 points, already eclipsing his total from the 2020-21 season.
AHL Shuffle: 03/08/22
It’s an extremely busy Tuesday in the NHL, with 11 games on the docket. That includes a big eastern matchup between the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins, and an incredibly important match between the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators. Those two central teams are neck and neck in the playoff race, meaning any head-to-head action is a huge opportunity to gain ground. As those teams and others prepare for action, we’ll keep track of all the minor league shuffling.
Atlantic Division
- The Ottawa Senators have reassigned Dillon Heatherington to the AHL, after he failed to get into any games on this most recent recall. The veteran minor league defenseman last played for Ottawa in December but continues to be a depth piece that’s recalled as injury insurance. He has zero points in nine NHL games this season.
- The Florida Panthers have sent Spencer Knight back to the AHL, after he stopped 29 of 30 shots yesterday against the Buffalo Sabres for his tenth win of the season. Knight continues to bounce up and down in order to get the most playing time possible, while the Panthers rely on Sergei Bobrovsky for the vast majority of the NHL action. Jonas Johansson, technically the NHL backup, has seen just a single game since being acquired in December.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs returned Mac Hollowell to the minor leagues today, as they welcomed Rasmus Sandin back to the ice after dealing with an illness. It’s unlikely Sandin plays tonight, though with him at least a possibility the team no longer needed Hollowell on the NHL roster.
Metropolitan Division
Central Division
- The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled Alec Regula to the NHL once again, and he was skating on the third pairing at practice according to Charlie Roumeliotis of NBCS Chicago. The 21-year-old defenseman has played in four games for the Blackhawks this season and is still looking for his first NHL point.
- The Dallas Stars have sent Marian Studenic to the AHL on a conditioning assignment, something that’s understandable given he hasn’t played since the Stars claimed him off waivers last month. Studenic has appeared in 17 games this season, all with the New Jersey Devils, and has one goal.
- Per The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford, the St. Louis Blues have recalled forward Alexey Toropchenko from the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds (tweet). The forward has zero points in five games in the NHL this season, but does have a solid 20 points in 42 games at the AHL level.
Pacific Division
- The San Jose Sharks have reassigned Jasper Weatherby and Santeri Hatakka to the AHL, suggesting that some players–particularly Erik Karlsson—could be available to play in the coming days. Weatherby, meanwhile, has spent most of the season with the Sharks, playing in 45 games so far and racking up ten points. The 24-year-old forward is still waiver-exempt, meaning he can move up and down without issue whenever the team needs him again.
- Earlier today, the Edmonton Oilers sent defenseman Markus Niemelainen down to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors. The 23-year-old has split time between the NHL and AHL this season, tallying 7 points in 23 games at the AHL level and just one assist in 20 games at the NHL level.
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