Veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic is slated to be a healthy scratch for San Jose’s game against the Florida Panthers. It’s his first scratching since January 4, 2022 – when Vlasic was held out of a matchup against the Detroit Red Wings. He returned to the lineup in the team’s next game and appeared in 48 more games throughout the 2021-22 season.
San Jose dressed seven defenders in their most recent game and Vlasic proved the odd-man-out, receiving a team-low six minutes of ice time. The matchup was another trip in a tumbling year for the 36-year-old defenseman, who has lost games to injury and now a scratching this season. Vlasic is signed to an annual cap hit of $7MM through the 2025-26 season, with a modified-no trade clause in each of his final three seasons and a signing bonus in the final two. It’s a lofty contract for a player that will now find himself in a press box. Vlasic is a veteran of 1243 NHL games – all of which were spent with the Sharks franchise. He was a pivotal piece of the team’s hefty roster through the 2010s but may be looking back on his glory days at this point in his career. How the veteran responds to the healthy scratching will be worth following for Sharks fans hoping Vlasic can find ways to make an impact.
Other notes around the league:
- Rasmus Ristolainen has experienced a setback in his recovery from an undisclosed injury, pushing his return to action back. No updated timetable for a return has been provided. Ristolainen was hoped to be the fill-in for Marc Staal, who was designated to injured reserve with an upper-body injury. With those hopes now delayed, it looks like Philadelphia will need to rely on U23 defensemen Emil Andrae and Yegor Zamula. The duo have each played in three games this year, with Andrae currently without a point and Zamula tallying one goal and two assists.
- Pavel Buchnevich has been announced as a game-time decision for the St. Louis Blues. The winger sustained an upper-body injury on October 12th and has been sidelined ever since. The veteran was seen interchanging practice reps with Jake Neighbours, operating on a line with Brayden Schenn and Kasperi Kapanen. Brandon Saad has joined the line of Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou.
MAY be looking back on his glory days ??? Good grief. Vlasic’s been useless for several years now, and the Sharks deserve no props for signing a defensive defenseman already in his thirties to a Norris-finalist contract. Small wonder he did what almost EVERY player does at that age on forward: decline.
(The best way he has to make an impact on the club is to officially retire.)
@Nha Trang – No holding breath on that one. Pickles probably still has a bit of a swelled head regarding his value to the team. I just poked in on CapFriendly to confirm what I suspected. Doug W. signed him to that ill-advised extension. A few years ago, while watching a Sharks-Ducks game, they managed to get to OT. When Pickles scored the GWG, he was a bit out of position, like about halfway to the blue line in his D-zone. A rebound gets kicked out right to him, so he takes off. Perry was 20 or so feet behind, starting at the goal line. He almost caught Vlasic, being about a stride late, as the goal was scored. After the game, Vlasic says, “I knew I was faster than any of their guys.” Imagine all the spit I had to clean off my TV screen after yelling at him, “You barely beat Perry to the net, you dope!” Now he can get double baskets of arena fries.
No, I wouldn’t expect so. Guy’s not going to walk away from $21 million just because he’s barely worth league minimum any more. I wouldn’t, in his skates.
@Nha Trang – I think he’ll be the embodiment of one of Mike Lange’s finest – “He’s smilin’ like a butcher’s dog!”