West Notes: Simek, Ducks, Fiala, Pateryn

Sharks defenseman Radim Simek may not be ready to start the season due to the torn ACL and MCL he sustained back in March, head coach Peter DeBoer told Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News.  The blueliner underwent surgery shortly thereafter but it typically carries a minimum recovery time of six months.  Simek has been skating on his own for the past few weeks and is hopeful to resume skating with the team soon.  However, given that he may not be able to get into any preseason action, it may be safer to have him start on IR for the first little bit of the season and ease his way back into things.  Doing so would also allow for one of their prospects to break camp with the team and have a spot inside their top six to start the season, giving San Jose a bit more of an evaluation opportunity.

Elsewhere in the West:

• The Ducks’ extension offer to defenseman Justin Faulk was believed to be a seven-year pact worth just under $7MM per season, reports Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register. That came back when they were working with Carolina on a trade but it doesn’t appear as if Faulk has interest in taking that offer at this time which has left discussions up in the air as a result.
• Wild winger Kevin Fiala’s immigration paperwork has finally been finalized, paving the way for him to rejoin the team today, the team announced (Twitter link). He signed a two-year bridge deal back on September 11th but has still wound up missing the first week of training camp.
• Still with the Wild, there is no timetable for defenseman Greg Pateryn to return from his lower-body injury, notes Rachel Blount of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He has yet to play in the preseason as he deals with what head coach Bruce Boudreau is classifying as a minor but persistent lower-body issue.