While San Jose was hoping that blueliner Radim Simek would be available for their season-opening set against Arizona, it appears that won’t be the case as Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News notes (Twitter link) that the blueliner has been placed on injured reserve retroactively. Simek had been complaining about lingering knee soreness even after undergoing surgery last year and it appears it’s enough to hold him out for at least a couple of games to start.
The 28-year-old is in the first season of a four-year, $9MM deal signed last year after putting up two goals and seven assists in 49 games in 2019-20 while logging 17 minutes a night. Defenseman Nicolas Meloche has been recalled from the taxi squad to give the Sharks seven healthy defenders on the roster.
San Jose announced several other transactions as well today. Wingers John Leonard and Noah Gregor were both recalled from the taxi squad as well. With three players coming up, they opted to fill two of the vacant spots as they promoted Sasha Chmelevski and Jeffrey Viel from their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.