Sharks Assign Henry Thrun To Minors
CapFriendly relays that San Jose Sharks defender Henry Thrun has been assigned to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.
Thrun, 22, cracked the Sharks’ opening night roster after joining the team on an entry-level contract to end the 2022-23 season. After recording 31 points in 33 contests as a junior at Harvard, Thrun was ready to turn pro but informed the team that drafted him 101st overall in 2019 – the Anaheim Ducks – that he wasn’t willing to sign with them. Thus, the Ducks sent Thrun’s signing rights to the Sharks in exchange for a third-round pick at the end of February, and he put pen to paper with the Sharks after his collegiate season ended in March.
Across ten appearances thus far between this season and last, Thrun has notched four assists and has posted a relative Corsi share of 4.9% at even strength, meaning he’s managed to stand out as a positive possession force on a paper-thin Sharks blue line. Averaging 19:36 per game, the young Thrun has flashed the potential to end up in the Sharks’ top four long-term – certainly worth the price of admission they paid to the Ducks.
The Sharks, however, likely have some other depth blue-liners they’d like to give a look – namely, 23-year-old Ty Emberson, a shutdown defense prospect they claimed off waivers from the Rangers before the season. Emberson has served as a healthy scratch for the Sharks’ first three games, but with Thrun now set to play top minutes with the Barracuda for the time being, Emberson is likely to enter the lineup for Thursday’s game against the Bruins.
Thrun will be a restricted free agent at season’s end and is due a qualifying offer of $874,125, per CapFriendly.
USA Hockey Announces First 22 Players For 2023 Worlds
The first 22 players that will compete for Team USA at the upcoming IIHF World Hockey Championship have been named, with an interesting mix of NHL experience and college excitement.
Lane Hutson is the youngest player in the group at just 19 years old, and he’ll be sharing the ice with 35-year-old Nick Bonino, the oldest. General manager Chris Clark released the following:
The depth of our player pool is reflected with our team and we’re excited about the group we have to represent our country at the world championship. We’ve got a great mix of experience and youth and most of our players have represented the U.S. before and know what it takes to be successful at a world championship.
The team will start training on Saturday in Munich, before a pre-tournament game on Tuesday. The tournament schedule for the U.S. begins next Friday, against Finland.
Here’s a look at the 22 players that have made the team so far:
G Casey DeSmith
G Drew Commesso
G Cal Petersen
D Henry Thrun
D Connor Mackey
D Ronnie Attard
D Dylan Samberg
D Scott Perunovich
D Lane Hutson
D Nick Perbix
F Samuel Walker
F Drew O’Connor
F Luke Tuch
F Nick Bonino
F T.J. Tynan
F Cutter Gauthier
F Sean Farrell
F Anders Bjork
F Matthew Coronato
F Conor Garland
F Alex Tuch
F Carter Mazur
West Notes: Blues, Sharks, Predators
When the New York Rangers clinched the playoffs last night, thanks to losses by the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers, there must have been some smiles on a Western Conference club, too. The St. Louis Blues will now receive a 2024 third-round pick as part of the Vladimir Tarasenko trade, instead of the conditional fourth that was initially announced.
The Blues now have ten picks in the first three rounds over the next two years, thanks to their trades of Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly. That gives them a chance to retool quickly, with considerable draft capital to flip this summer if they are trying to contend in 2023-24.
- The San Jose Sharks will have youngster Henry Thrun make his NHL debut this season, but not until Thursday. In the meantime, they have recalled Jeffrey Viel from the minor leagues to help fill in for the injuries up front. As Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group reports, Andreas Johnsson and Evgeny Svechnikov may not play again this season. Alexander Barabanov will miss tonight’s game and is listed as day-to-day.
- The Nashville Predators have recalled Michael McCarron and Kevin Gravel from the minor leagues, as they prepare for action against the Boston Bruins. While not officially eliminated, the Predators now find themselves five points out of a playoff spot with ten games to play after losses to Toronto and Seattle.
Sharks Sign Henry Thrun
The Sharks have reached an agreement with a promising defensive prospect, announcing the signing of Henry Thrun to a two-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but it does begin this season.
The 22-year-old was a fourth-round pick by Anaheim back in 2019 (101st overall) but has certainly outperformed his draft stock. This season, Thrun was the captain at Harvard and led their blueliners in scoring for the second straight year, tallying seven goals along with 24 assists in just 35 games. Those numbers were nearly identical to 2021-22 when he potted seven goals with 25 helpers in 35 contests. That helped him earn several honors, including ECAC Defensive Defenseman of the Year, First Team All-ECAC, and First Team All-Ivy.
Earlier this season, Thrun informed the Ducks that he would not be signing with them and instead would opt for free agency in mid-August. However, San Jose decided to jump the queue on trying to work out a deal with Thrun, flipping a 2024 third-rounder to Anaheim to get his rights earlier this month. That has proven to be a wise decision as it certainly didn’t take long for a deal to get done considering Harvard was just eliminated from the NCAA tournament on Friday.
While the Sharks will have to burn half of the contract now for the stretch run, they’ve secured themselves a promising young blueliner to add to a prospect pool that is starting to improve considerably under GM Mike Grier. They’ll likely give Thrun a chance to get his feet wet with a few games down the stretch to assess whether he might be ready for full-time duty next season or if some time at the AHL level will be acquired.
San Jose Sharks Acquire Henry Thrun
The San Jose Sharks said they would be going after prospects and young players instead of draft picks, and today they proved it. The Sharks have acquired the rights to Henry Thrun from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for a 2024 third-round pick. Thrun currently plays for Harvard and would need to sign an entry-level contract this summer, or become an unrestricted free agent.
The 21-year-old defenseman wasn’t going to sign with Anaheim. Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek explained:
While we are disappointed Henry chose to not sign with our club, we appreciate being notified of his intentions in advance of him becoming a Unrestricted Free Agent. We wish him the best of luck in his career.
For a player they weren’t going to sign, Anaheim has done rather well to recoup a third-round selection. Thrun was picked 101st overall in 2019, meaning they’re moving up quite a few spots, regardless of where San Jose finishes in 2024.
Still, with how well the 6’2″ defenseman has developed in college, it is disappointing for the Ducks to lose him. Thrun has always been an excellent puck-mover for Harvard, and has 26 points in 28 games this season. While there’s no guarantee that production will carry over to the NHL level, Anaheim is still looking for all the talented prospects they can as they move through a rebuild.
For San Jose, nothing is guaranteed, either. Thrun could still decide to wait until August to become a free agent, able to choose which team to land with as he starts his professional career. We’ve seen that scenario play out in the past, like when the Buffalo Sabers acquired Jimmy Vesey‘s rights, only to have him sign with the New York Rangers instead.
Still, the Sharks are excited about Thrun as a prospect. General manager Mike Grier released the following:
Henry is a very good two-way defenseman with high character and leadership skills. He was named captain for Harvard this year and has a solid pedigree as a player, earning All-American honors last season after helping guide Harvard to an ECAC Championship.
It is a reasonable risk for the Sharks, and one that hints at their plans moving forward. The team is not satisfied tearing things down and collecting draft picks—they want players that can make an impact much quicker than that.