March 9th: The Sharks have officially signed Simek to a four-year extension. GM Doug Wilson released a statement on the deal:
Radim has been an integral piece of our team defense for the last two seasons. His style of play blends a sound defensive game, coupled with a heavy physical ingredient and good puck-moving skills. His impact on our club when he is in the lineup is undeniable and we’re pleased he will be part of our team’s core moving forward.
Kevin Kurz of The Athletic reports that the deal is for $9MM total, an average annual value of $2.25MM
March 2nd: When the San Jose Sharks didn’t trade pending unrestricted free agent Radim Simek at the deadline, it was easy to wonder if they planned on re-signing him instead. Well that seems to be the case, as a report has emerged out of the Czech Republic that the depth defenseman has agreed to terms on a four-year extension worth around $8MM. Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News reports that though the deal has not yet been signed, the framework is in place.
Simek, 27, is in his second NHL season after originally signing with the Sharks organization in 2017. The Czech defenseman was undrafted but grew into an incredibly reliable presence in his own end, something that has carried over to his time with the Sharks. Though he has only played in 84 games, people around San Jose will tell you just how important he was last season giving the team a defensive anchor to allow some of their more offensive players to be creative. Obviously things haven’t gone quite as well this season in San Jose, but there is reason to believe he can bounce back.
Given that the Sharks have a few other defensemen headed for unrestricted free agency, it makes sense to keep Simek around. But handing out raises to players still has to be done carefully. San Jose has more than $25MM locked up in Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, meaning they’ll always need to have some bargains on the back end of their defense.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
That’s a good value signing for a guy who plays a solid top-four minutes every night.
a good team friendly deal , compared to Karlsson and his ballooning salary not these been injured for last few years , his production on ice has gone down since achilles injury years back, hopefully he can gain some of his scoring touch and stay healthy, Some big D man will be out or maybe high priced goalie , luckily salary cap is going to go up !
Man how and the hell has Wilson not been fired yet. I thought after the karlson trade he would be gone already. That vlasic deal is a nightmare, not to mention the Martin jones deal. That guy is a head case. Plus the 10 years of horrible goalies he has brought in. This guy is garbage. It’s time for a new voice and treat him just the way he treated Debour, who is a great coach(scapegoat) and send him on his way! Please!