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Jonah Gadjovich

San Jose Sharks Reassign Eetu Makinemi

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Feb 15: Makiniemi, along with Nick Cicek, has been returned to the AHL. Despite having players on long-term injured reserve, the club has a low enough payroll at the moment that they can still accrue some extra cap space. There may be more transactions to follow tomorrow, as they travel to play the Vegas Golden Knights.

Feb 14: The San Jose Sharks recalled goalie Eetu Makiniemi from the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda on Tuesday, the team announced via Twitter. San Jose placed forward Jonah Gadjovich on injured reserve in a corresponding move.

The move leads to a bit of a logjam on the Sharks roster. The Sharks recalled Aaron Dell from the minors just a few days ago, as starter James Reimer is out of the lineup with an undisclosed illness and is day-to-day.

Now, backup Kaapo Kahkonen appears to be out of the lineup short-term, says head coach David Quinn, after he didn’t finish San Jose’s win against the Washington Capitals on Sunday. That makes four goalies on the Sharks’ active roster, with neither Reimer nor Kahkonen expected to miss enough time to qualify for injured reserve.

Gadjovich officially lands on injured reserve less than an hour after the Bay Area News Group’s Curtis Pashelka reported he is considered week-to-week with an injury.

Makiniemi, 23, arrived in the Sharks organization this summer when the Carolina Hurricanes included him in their trade package to acquire defenseman Brent Burns. He posted an impressive .922 save percentage in an injury-shortened 2021-22 campaign with their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. Still, the organization’s logjam of young goalies incentivized Carolina to move on.

His AHL numbers have taken a dip this season, down to a .900 save percentage and an 8-10-3 record in 22 appearances with the Barracuda. He made his first NHL start earlier this season, stopping 23 of 24 shots in a 6-1 thrashing of the Anaheim Ducks on December 9, 2022.

Expect the Sharks to return Makinemi to the Barracuda as soon as one of Reimer or Kahkonen can play.

Snapshots: Predators, Shore, Gadjovich

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The Nashville Predators aren’t going to be buyers this year. That’s according to general manager David Poile, who joined Nashville radio this morning to explain his trade deadline plans.

I do not think we are a buyer, let’s start with that. If things don’t change more favorably and get into some kind of winning streak, we certainly could be a seller. But that’s not today. 

The Predators sit fifth in the Central Division, and despite a 25-20-6 record, actually have a negative goal differential on the year. However, what they would sell isn’t clear, given the only pending UFAs on the roster are Mark Jankowski and Kevin Lankinen. Teams rarely target players with long-term contracts at the deadline, and the Predators have 10 of 23 roster spots inked through at least 2024-25.

  • Devin Shore is back up for the Edmonton Oilers, meaning Kailer Yamamoto won’t be coming off injured reserve just yet. Klim Kostin was back on the ice with the team today, and Leon Draisatil was only missing for maintenance and is expected to play tomorrow. For Yamamoto to return, the Oilers need to clear a significant amount of cap space; most expect that to be the waiving or trade of Jesse Puljujarvi, though nothing has materialized to this point.
  • Jonah Gadjovich will be out on a week-to-week basis, according to Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. Kevin Labanc will jump back into the San Jose Sharks lineup on the fourth line, potentially giving the team a chance to showcase the forward before the trade deadline. The 27-year-old Labanc still carries a $4.725MM cap hit through next season and has 25 points in 45 games.

San Jose Sharks Sign Jonah Gadjovich

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After reporters last week indicated that talks were getting close between the San Jose Sharks and Jonah Gadjovich, the restricted free agent has apparently come to terms with the club. The two sides have agreed to a one-year, two-way contract; CapFriendly reports it will pay the young forward $750K in the NHL, $120K in the AHL, and includes a $150K minor league guarantee.

Gadjovich, 23, was claimed off waivers at the start of last season by the Sharks, after failing to make the Vancouver Canucks roster out of camp. The 2017 second-round pick provided basically no offense, scoring just one goal and three points in 43 games but still managed to become something of a fan favorite due to his incredibly physical game.

The 6’2″ winger racked up 104 hits and 74 penalty minutes despite averaging fewer than nine minutes of ice time a night, racking up ten fighting majors in the process.

It’s that physicality, combined with some sneaky-good goal-scoring ability that made Gadjovich such a high pick, though he hasn’t shown any of the latter so far at the NHL level. In his last AHL season, however, the big winger did have 15 goals in 19 games, continuing to put the puck in the net at a high rate.

If the Sharks can coax any of that ability out of him in the coming years, they could have a valuable contributor for their bottom six. Otherwise, they’ll have to decide if a dressing pseudo-enforcer is possible in today’s NHL.

It is worth noting that despite his limited minutes, Gadjovich did actually still attempt 69 shots but only hit the net on 36 of those and then had an incredibly low shooting percentage of just 2.8%. If that happens to be more unlucky than skill-based, there may be some upside if given a bigger opportunity in the lineup this season.

Pacific Notes: Oilers, Sharks, Canucks’ LTIR Situation

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While the Oilers have been busy this summer between re-signing their free agents and bringing in a new starter in Jack Campbell, they took a run at landing one of the big fish on the open market as well.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link) that Edmonton was hoping to work out a sign-and-trade to pick up John Klingberg with the veteran signing with a team that would have then immediately moved him with retention to help on the salary cap front.  Montreal was believed to be a possibility as a team that would have facilitated the move.  While that one obviously won’t happen (Klingberg signed with Anaheim last month), it’s a sign that GM Ken Holland is still looking to upgrade his back end.

Elsewhere in the West:

  • There remains no date set for the resumption of Evander Kane’s grievance hearing, relays Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). The Sharks terminated Kane’s deal last season citing a breach of contract, permitting him to become an unrestricted free agent.  He signed with the Oilers for the stretch run and then inked a four-year, $20.5MM deal before free agency began to stay there but it remains to be seen what would happen if his original contract (which still had three years left at a $7MM AAV) was to be reinstated as a result of the grievance.
  • In a separate tweet, Pashelka notes that discussions are ongoing between the team and RFA forward Jonah Gadjovich. The 23-year-old is San Jose’s last restricted free agent and is coming off a year that saw him pick up just three points in 43 games.  The Sharks tendered him a two-way qualifying offer worth just under $875K last month but Gadjovich might be willing to sign for less than that in exchange for a one-way contract.
  • Thomas Drance of The Athletic examines (subscription link) some of the challenges that the Canucks will be facing in order to place Micheal Ferland on in-season LTIR in 2022-23. While Vancouver has several waiver-exempt players, their performance bonuses make the simplest idea of papering them down for a day not practical.  Accordingly, they might have to waive some roster players late in training camp to make the finances work.  Offseason LTIR is an option but most teams prefer to avoid that route and make an in-season placement but that will be a bit of a challenge for them.

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