6:30pm: The suggestion that Pasichnuk was waiting for a team to offer the Perunovich “double contract” appears to have been correct. TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports that the Sun Devils standout has agreed to terms on two separate deals, one that would begin this season should the NHL regular season resume and one that would begin in 2020-21. The Sharks have yet to to confirm the signing and may wait until one contract or the other can be affirmed.
5:00pm: The San Jose Sharks may be adding another defenseman to their system, as Kevin Kurz of The Athletic tweets the team is “closing in” on a contract with Brinson Pasichnuk. The Arizona State University captain recently completed his senior season and is an unrestricted free agent.
When Kurz adds that the young defenseman was highly sought after, he isn’t exaggerating. Previous reports had as many as 20 teams interested in Pasichnuk, though he had recently whittled that list down to just two. If he has indeed chosen to sign with the Sharks, any delay likely is due to the uncertainty around the NHL season. Pasichnuk wanted to see if there was any chance of signing for this year before making a contract official, similar to the way Scott Perunovich went about his contract with the St. Louis Blues recently.
There’s good reason for that interest from two-thirds of the league. Pasichnuk recorded 30 points for the second consecutive season, bringing his total up to 107 in 136 college games. The left-handed defenseman went undrafted out of the AJHL, but has continued to improve his game as the competition increased. The next step will be trying to continue that production at the professional level, something he apparently is ready to do as part of the Sharks organization.
Baby shark doo doo doo doo.