The Sharks could soon turn to the trade market to address their struggles on the fourth line, suggests Paul Gackle of The Mercury News. The team has tried four different players in the fourth line center position with none of them having any extended success. Head coach Peter DeBoer is a proponent of running a four-line attack and the struggles of San Jose’s bottom trio has made that a difficult proposition.
GM Doug Wilson has had to make moves to shore up that line in recent years. Last season, he picked up Eric Fehr in a midseason move while in 2016, he added Nick Spaling via a trade and Dainius Zubrus as a free agent. They can add a player making roughly $1.6MM right now per CapFriendly so if they intend on filling other holes between now and the deadline, they may want to wait a little bit before attempting to add a fourth line pivot.
Elsewhere around the Pacific:
- Although Kings center Jeff Carter has struggled considerably this season, Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic (subscription required) believes that the time may be right for the team to move him. As a result of his back-diving contract, the financial outlay over the final three years of his deal is just $7MM in total which would make him attractive to lower-spending teams while his cap hit of roughly $5.27MM isn’t overly pricey for a top-six forward and would still carry some value. The 33-year-old has been quiet offensively this season with just five goals and nine assists in 29 games but a change of scenery might give him a boost. Carter does not have any trade protection in his contract.
- On top of missing goalie Antti Raanta on a week-to-week basis, Coyotes winger Vinnie Hinostroza has received the same designation, notes Craig Morgan of The Athletic (Twitter link). He sustained a lower-body injury on Thursday night against Washington. Arizona is now missing six regular players out of their lineup as they look to hang around the postseason picture.