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Radim Simek

Radim Simek Signs In Czech League

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It has been quite a fall lately for Radim Simek who wound up not seeing any NHL action this season.  Instead of testing the open market to see what might be out there for him, he has instead elected to return home as Liberec in the Czech Extraliga announced that they’ve inked the defenseman to a three-year contract.

The 31-year-old had originally played in Liberec’s system before coming to North America for the 2018-19 campaign.  Simek established himself as a regular when healthy in his first couple of years in San Jose.  Then-GM Doug Wilson had seen enough to reward him with a four-year, $9MM deal with the hopes that he’d continue to improve and be able to play more regularly.

Unfortunately for the Sharks, neither of those things happened.  He failed to average even 15 minutes a game over the first three years of that deal while he battled more injury trouble and found himself a frequent healthy scratch at times.

That resulted in a change of plans for this past season.  San Jose elected to put him on waivers in training camp and assigned him to the AHL’s Barracuda.  He played in 40 games with them, recording 16 points before being moved to Detroit at the trade deadline as a salary offset in the Klim Kostin trade.  The Red Wings opted to keep Simek in the minors where he got into nine regular season games for the Griffins plus eight playoff contests, collecting three assists in that span.

Simek leaves North America with 209 career NHL games under his belt, all coming over parts of five seasons with San Jose.  In that span, he had seven goals and 22 assists along with 256 blocks and 419 hits.  Considering he’ll be 34 when this contract ends, there’s a good chance this is the end of the road at the NHL level for Simek but as an undrafted player, he still had a pretty good run.

Red Wings Send Klim Kostin To Sharks, Acquire Radim Simek

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The Detroit Red Wings have sent forward Klim Kostin to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for defenseman Radim Simek and a 2024 seventh-round pick belonging to the New Jersey Devils. The Red Wings have loaned Simek to the AHL’ Grand Rapids Griffins.

Kostin joined the Red Wings alongside Kailer Yamamoto in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers last summer, with Detroit offering future considerations the other way. The Wings promptly signed Kostin to a two-year, $4MM contract that carries him through the 2024-25 season. Kostin rotated into the Wings bottom-line this season, scoring three goals and four points in 33 games, averaging just under nine minutes of ice time each game. He’s also added 38 penalty minutes, including two fights. It’s a down year for Kostin after receiving a prime chance with the Oilers last season – when he scored 11 goals and 21 points in 57 games, averaging over 10 minutes of ice time. Still, much of his career has been spent in a depth role, with the 24-year-old totaling 19 goals and 36 points in 136 career games. At 6’4″, 232 lbs, Kostin brings notable heft and physicality to the lineup and has proven he can add goal-scoring value with his shot. He’ll likely receive a routine role with the Sharks, who have already traded Anthony Duclair, though it’s yet to be seen if he can find his modest scoring groove once again.

Simek has spent all season in the minor leagues, recording 16 points and 29 penalty minutes in 40 games with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda. While he has totaled 209 career NHL games, serving as a depth fill-in for San Jose since 2018-19, it seems Simek’s impact will stay confined to the minors as he joins Grand Rapids. At 31, Simek has carved out a hardy career in North American pros for an undrafted free agent, joining the Sharks in 2017-18 after a five-year career in the Czechia Extraliga, where he played with Liberec Bili Tygri HC. He’s a hardy defenseman, known for his physicality and long reach – both traits that could come in handy should Detroit make the playoffs.

Sharks Place Radim Simek On Waivers, Assign Nikita Ohkotyuk On Conditioning Stint

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The San Jose Sharks placed defenseman Radim Simek on waivers today for the purpose of assignment to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, per a team release. They also loaned defense prospect Nikita Okhotyuk to the Barracuda for a conditioning stint.

San Jose placed Simek on injured reserve to open the season with a lower-body injury, but he was cleared to return today. The waiver placement is surprising, to say the least – Simek is in the final season of a four-year, $9MM extension and has been one of the more valuable shutdown defenders analytically for a Sharks team that’s struggled to keep the puck out of the net in recent seasons. It seems the team is more intent on giving opportunities to younger shutdown prospects, namely 23-year-old waiver claim Ty Emberson, who’s expected to make his NHL debut tonight against the Bruins.

Given his $2.25MM cap hit, it seems unlikely Simek will get claimed, but he would be a valuable contributor to a handful of teams looking for penalty-killing help. The 31-year-old Czech defender has experience playing both sides of the ice and should get a few offers in free agency next summer if he elects to stay in North America instead of continuing his career in Europe. He had a goal and two assists in 44 contests with the Sharks last season.

The 22-year-old Okhotyuk also landed on IR to start the season but is now ready to go. Acquired from the Devils as part of the Timo Meier trade last season, he has not yet played a game in the Sharks organization after a hernia prematurely ended his 2022-23 campaign. He’ll now get the chance to do so with the Barracuda and could see some NHL ice in San Jose soon enough. The 61st overall pick in 2019 made ten appearances with the Devils last season, recording his second NHL goal in the process.

Sharks Notes: Simek, MacDonald, Okhotiuk, Couture, Bailey, Kaspick

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Before their opening night matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow night, Curtis Pashelka of Bay Area News relayed some injury information from the San Jose Sharks. Pashelka notes that defensemen Radim Simek, Jacob MacDonald, and Nikita Okhotiuk are all returning from injury.

There wasn’t any further information regarding their status for tomorrow night. Still, the fact that they are now all back skating gives some optimism that San Jose could see the return of several important blueliners in the coming days. For the time being, Simek and MacDonald are currently on injured reserve, while Okhotiuk finds himself on the season-opening injured reserve.

Throughout this year, the Sharks will give Simek plenty of opportunity and ice time, as he would be a prime trade deadline candidate on a contending team to shore up the bottom six of a defensive core. Okhotiuk on the other hand, a former second-round selection of the New Jersey Devils back in 2019, is a potential building block on defense in San Jose, after being acquired at last season’s trade deadline.

Other Sharks notes:

  • In a bit more negative injury information, Pashelka also relays on that Sharks’ captain, Logan Couture, did not skate today, and has had some sort of setback in his lower-body injury. Being placed on injured reserve on September 21st during training camp, the going notion was that Couture would be evaluated on a week-to-week basis. Given that tomorrow will mark three weeks on injured reserve for the veteran forward, there may be some pessimism surrounding Couture’s availability tomorrow night.
  • Still coming from Pashelka, and moving away from injuries, he announces that the AHL affiliate of the Sharks, the San Jose Barracuda, are planning on signing forwards Justin Bailey and Tanner Kaspick to AHL contracts for the upcoming season. Of the two, Bailey is the only one with NHL experience, playing a total of 82 games over seven years, scoring five goals and four assists.

West Notes: Simek, Lambert, Oilers

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San Jose Sharks defenseman Radim Simek could miss the team’s season opener at home on October 12 against the Vegas Golden Knights, per Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. Simek has been dealing with a lower-body injury for the past few days and did not skate today as planned.

Pashelka notes Simek starting the season on injured reserve is a “real possibility,” meaning the 31-year-old defender would miss at least seven days from the retroactive placement, which likely would not impact Simek’s ability to return after the start of the season given he sustained the injury four days ago already. His lack of availability is a huge blow to a paper-thin Sharks defense, as he’s quietly been one of their most effective defenders over the past few seasons. He’s a strong two-way force at even strength and quite adept on the penalty kill, where his absence is felt the most. Simek played in just 44 games last season due to injuries, recording three points and averaging just 14:37 per game – arguably under-utilized by head coach David Quinn. If unavailable for opening night, someone like Nikolai Knyzhov, Jacob MacDonald, or the young Henry Thrun could draw into the lineup.

Elsewhere in the Western Conference this Monday evening:

  • After cutting him from their training camp roster yesterday, the Winnipeg Jets are bringing 2022 first-round pick Brad Lambert up to the active roster for tonight’s preseason tilt against the Calgary Flames, per a team announcement. Lambert will likely be returned to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose after the game, where he’s projected to play the full season after splitting it between there and WHL Seattle last season, where he exploded for 38 points in 26 regular-season games and 26 points in 17 playoff contests. Lambert had two goals and an assist in 14 games in his first taste of pro hockey within the Jets organization with Manitoba last season.
  • The Athletic’s Allan Mitchell posits Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland is well set up to make a blockbuster deal this season, likely his last as a general manager in the NHL as he enters the final season of his contract with Edmonton. Mitchell cites that pressure for Holland to bring a Stanley Cup to Edmonton, plus the Oilers’ wide range of young players in the organization that aren’t yet NHL regulars, as grounds for giving up significant assets in a deal. In terms of potential targets, Mitchell mentions Winnipeg Jets star netminder Connor Hellebuyck to quash any uncertainty in the crease, Carolina Hurricanes defender Brett Pesce for additional depth on the right side and an all-world top-four with Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse, and Philadelphia Flyers winger Travis Konecny as potential targets. All would require significant salary dumps going the other way to make a deal work, with the Oilers limited to carrying just one extra skater to be cap-compliant to start the season.

Injury Updates: Comrie, Guhle, Sharks

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There should soon be a logjam between the pipes in Buffalo for the stretch run.  Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News relays that goaltender Eric Comrie has resumed skating and is expected to return soon from his lower-body injury.  The 27-year-old has had a rough first season with the Sabres, posting a 3.95 GAA with a .877 SV% in 17 starts.  When cleared, he’ll join Craig Anderson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as available options for Buffalo (Luukkonen wasn’t papered down at the deadline and thus is ineligible to play there again this season).  Those three will also soon be joined by top prospect Devon Levi who is still waiting for his immigration paperwork to be finalized to allow him to officially join the team.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Following their victory last night over Tampa Bay, the Canadiens announced that defenseman Kaiden Guhle will miss the remainder of the regular season due to a high ankle sprain. Despite dealing with injuries off and on, it was still a quality rookie campaign for the 21-year-old who had 18 points in 44 games while averaging over 20 minutes a night on a young Montreal back end.  The team also noted that surgery will not be required.
  • The Sharks could get a pair of veterans back on their current road trip which runs through Saturday as Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now notes (Twitter link) that blueliners Radim Simek (concussion) and Jacob MacDonald (upper body) are close to returning from their respective injuries. Neither player logs heavy minutes on the back end but their returns would allow Nikolai Knyzhov and Derrick Pouliot to return to the minors to try to help their farm team push for a play-in spot in the Pacific Division.  Meanwhile, Peng adds that Jonah Gadjovich isn’t close to returning; the winger has been out week-to-week for the last five weeks with an upper-body injury.

West Injury Notes: Dubois, Blackhawks, Simek

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Winnipeg Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois missed practice today, but is expected to play tomorrow. John Lu of TSN reported that his absence from practice was just a maintenance day and he will suit up against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday. Dubois is having a strong season, scoring 24 goals and 55 points in 61 games for the Jets this season. He missed three games before returning to face the San Jose Sharks on Monday night. When he missed practice, it was initially feared he would be out of the lineup yet again, but that is not the case.

The Jets need his presence in their lineup. The team has been struggling lately and has dropped to third in the Central Division standings with the Colorado Avalanche right on their heels. They are 2-6-2 in their past ten games, and will look to get back on track against a divisional rival tomorrow night. Fortunately, it will be with Dubois in the lineup.

  • According to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Blackhawks will be without a couple of depth players for the foreseeable future. Andreas Englund has a pulled hamstring and will not travel with the team on their upcoming road trip. The team’s next home game is March 14th. Austin Wagner was acquired by the Blackhawks on trade deadline day and the team was aware he had an injury that had become infected. He is meeting with doctors to try and determine a clearer timeline on when he can make his debut with the Blackhawks.
  • Radim Simek is listed as week-to-week with a concussion, per Corey Masisak of The Athletic. The 30-year-old defenseman missed nearly two months earlier this season before returning to the San Jose Sharks lineup on February 28th. He has played three games since then, but will be out long term due to the concussion that sidelined him earlier this season.

Injury Notes: Simek, Guhle, Barron

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San Jose Sharks defenseman Radim Simek did not travel with the team to Winnipeg, according to Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. Nikolai Knyzhov and Nick Cicek were recalled on Sunday, as the Sharks reshuffle their blueline ahead of their matchup with the Jets. They’ll be looking to put together a bounce-back performance after their squad was thoroughly dismantled by the Washington Capitals after the first period of yesterday’s game.

Simek has been a defense-first member of the Sharks’ blueline since coming over from the Czech league in 2017 as a free agent. He has recorded 28 points in 199 games played since making his NHL debut, and while he averages over 15 minutes of ice time per game for his career, he has struggled with nagging injury issues in recent years. Simek is making $2.25MM against the cap through next season.

Some other injury notes from across the NHL:

  • The Montreal Canadiens announced today that rookie defenseman Kaiden Guhle is out with an upper-body injury. Per the announcement, Guhle’s status is to be considered day-to-day. It’s an unfortunate development for the 21-year-old as he just recently returned from an extended injury-related absence. When healthy, he has impressed despite being thrust into a challenging situation as a minutes-eating rookie blueliner with significant defensive responsibilities.
  • Another Canadiens rookie, Justin Barron, is also out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. While Barron didn’t make the Canadiens out of training camp as Guhle did, Barron got some extra seasoning at the AHL level and has played well as of late. He’s scored three goals and nine points in 24 games this season and is averaging just over 15 minutes time-on-ice per game.

San Jose Sharks Activate Radim Simek

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The San Jose Sharks have activated defenseman Radim Simek off of injured reserve. Simek hasn’t seen the ice in 2023 yet for the Sharks, so with this activation, he’ll get his chance to return to coach David Quinn’s lineup.

The 30-year-old Czech blueliner has appeared in nearly 200 career NHL games and has seen the ice 31 times for the Sharks this season. He’s registered two points in that span, averaging just under 15 minutes of ice time per game. Within those fifteen-or-so minutes typically comes around a minute of shorthanded ice time per game.

Simek has been with the Sharks organization since 2017-18, the season when he was plucked from the Czech Extraliga after having an extremely successful final two seasons with Bili Tygri Liberec. He’s dealt with quite a few injuries during his time in the Bay Area, and while he’s certainly not been bad when he’s been healthy the lack of consistent availability has been a lingering issue throughout his career in North America.

The Sharks currently have Scott Harrington, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Mario Ferraro, and Jacob MacDonald in the lineup as left-shot blueliners, so it’s not immediately clear where Simek fits in the lineup picture just yet. But getting him back into game shape after a relatively lengthy injury is certainly a positive development for the Sharks.

San Jose Sharks Claim Mikey Eyssimont Off Waivers

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1/6/23: According to Curtis Pashelka of Bay Area News Group, the San Jose Sharks have claimed Eyssimont off of waivers. In order to create room for the claim on their roster, the Sharks have placed Radim Simek on injured reserve.

1/5/23: As expected after he was absent from practice today with the Winnipeg Jets, Mikey Eyssimont is on waivers according to Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets.

This would clear room for Blake Wheeler, who was a surprise participant in practice today, to be activated from injured reserve along with Nikolaj Ehlers and Nate Schmidt. Cole Perfetti, the other injured player who was a full-go today, was never actually moved to IR.

Eyssimont, 26, has played in 19 games this season for the Jets, recording the first five NHL points of his career. A fifth-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2016, he didn’t receive an opportunity at the highest level until arriving in Winnipeg last season.

After breaking out with the Manitoba Moose to the tune of 18 goals and 42 points in 58 games, he received his NHL debut in April. This year he has been a regular since the team lost several key forwards, averaging ten minutes a night and scoring his first goal.

Given his lack of NHL experience, Eyssimont will likely go unclaimed, though perhaps there is a team that believes he can give them better fourth-line minutes than what they are currently using.

Either way, it seems like his time in the Jets lineup is coming to an end for now, as three top-six forwards return at the same time. He’s probably ticketed for the Moose, just as Jansen Harkins and Kristian Reichel have been in recent days.

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