Although there’s a good chance that the Sharks will lose a defenseman by next year, either via the Las Vegas expansion draft or a trade, it’s unlikely that they will opt to move that defender now, suggests CSN Bay Area’s Kevin Kurz.
San Jose finds themselves in the bottom half of the league in goals per game, which is something they’d like to improve upon. Their strength so far this season has been on the defensive side of things where they allow the third fewest shots per game. Accordingly, moving one of their defenders such as Justin Braun to bring in that scoring help would just trade one hole on the roster for another.
More from the Pacific Division:
- The Coyotes are hopeful that center Ryan White can return to the lineup tonight against the Wild, notes Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic. The 28 year old last suited up on December 21st and has missed the last 11 games with a lower body injury. While White won’t bring much in the way of offense to the table when he returns (he has just seven points in 30 games this season), he’ll give them a physical presence in their bottom six. Arizona is carrying a full 23-man roster so a move will need to be made in order to activate him off injured reserve.
- After passing through waivers earlier this season with the Panthers, center Logan Shaw is carving out a niche for himself with the Ducks, writes Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register. Shaw is taking a regular turn on their penalty kill as he helps to fill the void left by Nate Thompson (who has missed the entire year with an Achilles injury) and in doing so, has taken a bit of the workload off of Ryan Kesler as well. Head coach Randy Carlyle would like to see Shaw become a threat at the faceoff dot but he’s a career 35% on the draw so it may take a little while for him to develop that element of his game.
- Calgary left winger Michael Frolik has never been a big scorer at the NHL level (his career high in points came in his rookie campaign in 2008-09) but that hasn’t stopped him from being linked to one of the leading scorers in NHL history, notes Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Sun. Frolik was born in Kladno of the Czech Republic, birthplace of Jaromir Jagr and accordingly, his nickname growing up was ‘Baby Jagr’. While he was a top offensive threat at the junior level, he has evolved into more of a two-way forward in recent years. Although reliable two-way threats can carve out a long career in the NHL, Frolik doesn’t anticipate having anywhere near the staying power of Jagr, who’s set to turn 45 next week.
Frolik was great in Chicago.