Sharks Notes: Meier, Couture, Hill, Karlsson

Recently, Corey Masisak of The Athletic had a chance to sit down with many of the San Jose Sharks players to tie up loose ends on their status heading into yet another offseason without a playoff berth for the Sharks. In talking to Masisak, forward Timo Meier said that he hasn’t thought about a contract extension yet, but that it was something he would think about over the summer (link). For now, Meier says, his primary focus is on the upcoming World Championships, where he will represent Switzerland. The Sharks’ star has one more year remaining on a four-year, $24MM contract, which will leave him as a RFA heading into the 2023 offseason.

Meier signed his last contract after a stellar 30 goal, 36 assist, and 78 game campaign in 2018-19, the last of his entry-level contract. After that, Meier failed to reach the same level of production until this year, when the forward had 35 goals and 41 assists in 77 games. With the bounce-back, Meier could expect not only to receive a similar AAV on his next contract, but could even be due a raise. If he chooses to hold-off on an extension, and can continue the production into next season, he would surely be due a significant raise. One notable question heading into these negotiations will be whether Meier chooses to pursue a bridge deal that will take him straight into UFA status, or if he would prefer a long-term extension at or close to the eight-year maximum.

• Forward Logan Couture says he does not plan to play at the World Championships in order to rest (link). Further, the Sharks’ captain said he is not entertaining any offers to play elsewhere and has not made that request himself, and in fact, he would prefer to finish his career with the Sharks. While his team has fallen on tough times and has entered a mini-rebuild, Couture’s career might seem to mirror one of down-state rival Dustin Brown, who saw plenty of success with the Kings early in his career, then endured a rebuild with the Kings, and has now announced his retirement following this season, but not before seeing his team through their first playoff series since 2017-18. Couture, who just turned 33, has had a storied run with San Jose and could very well prefer to see things through with the organization, with hopes of leading the team to a Stanley Cup down the road. Either way, Couture is signed for $8MM per season through 2026-27 with a modified no-trade clause.
• Goaltender Adin Hill, who dealt with injuries this season, does not expect to need surgery on his lingering lower-body injury (link). Instead, Hill said, the plan is to rest and rehab the injury to resolve it, and he expects to be ready for training camp. The goaltender was originally injured in a January 22nd loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, but came back on March 12th, where he appeared to re-aggravate the injury, and has not played since. Hill did manage a strong season when healthy though, recording a .906 save-percentage and 2.66 goals-against average in 25 games.
• Defenseman Erik Karlsson declined to share what exactly the injury was that has kept him out of the lineup the final two weeks of the season, but did make clear that the injury was relatively minor and mentioned that had the Sharks been in contention, it may have even been something he would play through (link). The veteran has struggled with injury this season, missing nearly two months between January and March and last playing on April 14th. In other positive news regarding the injury, Karlsson did say he was unsure if he would be playing in the World Championships, however the fact that he is considering it in some capacity also goes to show the relative scope of the injury. In 50 games this season, the 31-year-old had 10 goals and 25 assists.