The San Jose Sharks have rounded out their kinesiological staff with the hiring of Will Leonard as head athletic trainer, Ryan Ledwon as assistant athletic trainer, and Patrick Dugan as assistant strength and conditioning coach according to beat reporter Max Miller.
Leonard will take over as the team’s second athletic trainer for the team since the 1997-98 season. The position was previously held by Ray Tufts who was relieved of duties the same day as former-head coach David Quinn on April 24th of this year. Leonard had previously served as the head athletic trainer for the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda before working under Tufts for the last two years with the Sharks as an assistant athletic trainer.
Ledwon and Dugan are rookies to the organization with the former having experience in his role with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls of the Anaheim Ducks organization. Dugan’s new role with the Sharks will be marked as his first position in professional hockey.
Other snapshots:
- All signs point to Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin eclipsing the retired Carey Price to become the league’s highest-paid goalie, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on Friday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast. If that’s the case, his inevitable extension to keep him off the free agent market in 2025 will check in with a cap hit north of $10.5MM. The Rangers already have over $58MM tied up for 2025-26 with only 10 players signed, per PuckPedia.
- Jets RFA Cole Perfetti may still be without a contract, but the young forward has returned to Winnipeg to train before hopefully signing a new deal before training camp, Darren Dreger of TSN reports. Dreger adds that Perfetti, 22, still intends to represent the Jets at next week’s player media tour in Las Vegas, even if he doesn’t have a deal. Multiple Winnipeg-based pundits have posited a two-year bridge deal is the most likely outcome. However, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period said yesterday that Perfetti’s camp is still awaiting a firm offer from the Jets.
- Free agent winger Cal Clutterbuck has spurned PTO offers as he continues to search for guaranteed employment next season, reports James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now. Clutterbuck, who turns 37 in November, is on the open market after spending the last 11 years in an Islanders uniform, plying his trade as a valuable fourth-line checking presence. The 2006 third-round pick of the Wild played in all 82 games last season for the first time in his 17-year NHL career, posting seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points.
PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed to this article.
I would Cluttberuck to a league minimum one-way deal. Teams like Colorado, Edmonton, Dallas and Florida could all use cheap 4th line depth.