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Tomas Hertl

Bob Boughner Has The Upper Hand To Remain As Sharks Head Coach

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While the Sharks haven’t entirely committed to removing the interim tag from head coach Bob Boughner, it certainly seems as if they’re leaning in that direction.  Speaking on a recent conference call, GM Doug Wilson told reporters, including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News that Boughner currently has the upper hand in the process but that they intend to do a thorough review once the season officially comes to an end.

Boughner was named as the interim bench boss back in December, taking over from Peter DeBoer (who took over as the head coach in Vegas barely a month later).  While San Jose sits at the bottom of the standings in the West (they have a 14-20-3 record under Boughner after being 15-16-2 under DeBoer), Wilson felt there was some progress made in the second half of the year:

I was pleased to see some of the overall play improve over the last half of the year. There were times more often than not that we were playing the game the right way.

Of course, Boughner’s performance behind the bench this season isn’t the only reason that he is the frontrunner to get the job on a full-time basis.  He spent two years as an assistant with the team (2015-16 and 2016-17) before joining Florida as their head coach and a good chunk of the core is still there and that familiarity certainly doesn’t hurt.

If he does eventually have the interim tag removed, a quick turnaround is going to be expected.  The Sharks don’t have much in the way of salary cap flexibility to change their roster so the majority of their core will likely return.

Having fewer top players go down with injuries will certainly help in that regard and Wilson did have some positive news on that front.  Center Tomas Hertl is well ahead of schedule in his recovery from knee surgery while defenseman Erik Karlsson (thumb) and center Logan Couture (concussion) are close to being fully healthy and could return if the season resumes at some point over the coming weeks and months.

Snapshots: Sharks, Marchenko, Hronek

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Call it the thinnest of silver linings, but the numerous injuries of the San Jose Sharks may actually help the team to make something of their season. In a year in which everything has gone wrong in San Jose, including the season-ending injuries of Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl, the team is now in a position to take on considerable salary due to those absences and reap the rewards of doing so, writes NBC Sports’ Marcus White. The once cap-strapped Sharks now have more than $6MM in salary cap space following the trade of defenseman Brenden Dillon and that number could increase if more deals are made. This could allow for San Jose to land a pick or prospect from a contender lacking in cap flexibility who has been weighed down by a bad contract. Of course, the team would likely be looking for expiring contracts so as not to carry the added cap weight into next season, when they hope to be healthy and competitive once again. Still, there are a number of bad contracts out there that the Sharks could take on, making the most of a deadline in which they otherwise don’t have many valuable pieces to trade away.

  • Former NHL defenseman Alexey Marchenko is eyeing a return to North America and KHL insider Igor Eronko thinks that he has identified the most likely landing spot. Eronko notes that Marchenko’s teammate with CSKA Moscow is Montreal Canadiens’ top defensive prospect Alexander Romanov and the highest likelihood that Romanov could make the jump next year would be if he is joined by a familiar face. Marchenko, who struggled to carve out an NHL role for himself previously, has improved in the KHL and could be a suitable replacement on the Montreal blue line for impending free agents such as Christian Folin or Xavier Ouellet.
  • One of the few bright spots of the Detroit Red Wings’ dismal season has been the continued growth of defenseman Filip Hronek, who has become a dependable all-around defender for the franchise. However, fans can’t even cling to that as a reason to tune in to games for the next few weeks, as the Red Wings have placed Hronek on injured reserve. His injury is not expected to be serious, but the team also lacks any reason to rush him back to action. Long-time depth asset Brian Lashoff has been recalled to take Hronek’s roster spot for the time being.

Tomas Hertl Out For Season With Knee Injury

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Feb 6: Hertl underwent surgery on Monday and is now starting a long recovery process. He is expected to be ready for next season’s training camp.

Jan 30: Everything has gone completely wrong for the San Jose Sharks this year. Tomas Hertl has suffered a torn ACL and MCL in his left knee and is out for the rest of the season. Hertl was injured on a play that seemed relatively harmless as he and Chris Tanev of the Vancouver Canucks slowly slid into the end boards.

Unfortunately, Hertl’s season comes to an end just a few days after participating in the first All-Star game of his career. The 26-year old forward was named a replacement for teammate Logan Couture who is dealing with a broken ankle, but put on a show in the breakaway challenge, accuracy shooting and 3-on-3 main event.

With 16 goals and 36 points through his first 48 games, Hertl has once again shown that he can be a top-line presence even if the Sharks haven’t been able to win many games this season. He scored 35 goals last year for the Sharks in the first season of a four-year, $22.5MM deal he signed in 2018. The contract seemed to be quite the bargain at this point, but he’ll now have to battle just to be ready for the start of next season.

San Jose now sits with a 22-26-4 record after losing to the Canucks last night and are 26th in league goal scoring. Without Hertl, one of their most dangerous offensive weapons, they will be hard pressed to change that record.

San Jose Sharks Looking To Acquire A First-Round Pick

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San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson probably didn’t think much about including a first-round pick to Ottawa when the team traded for defenseman Erik Karlsson back in September of 2018. After all, the Sharks have been picking in the back-third of the draft for years with the exception of 2015 when the team picked ninth overall, grabbing Timo Meier.

Unfortunately, Wilson is watching a potential disaster at hand as the Sharks find themselves with the sixth-worst record in the NHL with little hope that San Jose will vault themselves in any sort of playoff contention in the second half of the season. Instead, the Ottawa Senators could find themselves with two high-quality lottery picks in what is considered to be a deep 2020 draft.

With the Sharks struggles offensively and need for more young talent that they don’t have from years of trading off their picks or top prospects, Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch writes that Wilson is “embarrassed” that he traded that first-round pick and is now looking to acquire another now that they don’t have one. However, that could be an issue since the team’s top pending unrestricted free agents aren’t likely to bring in a first-rounder between Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Melker Karlsson, Brenden Dillon, Stefan Noesen, Tim Heed, Radim Simek and goalie Aaron Dell.

With a “For Sale” sign on the door, Garrioch wonders if Wilson will have to make some major changes to fix the team, which would mean dipping into their core. The team could be forced to consider trading Meier, Tomas Hertl and Brent Burns, which would shake up the squad significantly. Unfortunately for the Sharks, Wilson now has an aging roster with major commitments to Evander Kane (five more years at $7MM AAV), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (six more years at $7MM AAV), Burns, (five more years at $8MM AAV), Karlsson (seven more years at $11.5MM AAV) and goaltender Martin Jones (four more years at $5.75MM AAV).

With few young players on the horizon, the Sharks may be in quite a bit of trouble and could be forced to reverse course and start a rebuild sooner rather than later unless the team can turn things around quickly.

Max Pacioretty, Tomas Hertl Added To All-Star Squad

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You don’t have to vote for Max Pacioretty anymore as the last man in for the All-Star Game. Both Pacioretty and Tomas Hertl have been added to the team, now that Jakob Silfverberg and Logan Couture will not be able to attend. The former has withdrawn due to the imminent birth of his child, while the latter suffered a broken ankle and will be out several weeks. Neither player will be suspended for failing to attend.

This will actually be the first appearance for Pacioretty, despite being a five-time 30+ goal scorer and former captain. The Vegas Golden Knights forward is well on his way to another season of 30, with 20 goals and 45 points through the first 47 games. That’s the best on the Golden Knights and a nice value for his $7MM cap hit.

Hertl meanwhile was the obvious choice to be the Sharks representative once Couture was ruled out, given he is neck-and-neck with him in almost every offensive category. The  26-year old forward has 15 goals and 34 points in 42 games, not quite the pace that he set last season but still a strong performance.

Both players were part of the fan vote to select the final player for the Pacific Division, meaning those left on the ballot will get a little bit higher chance of getting into the festivities. Voting ends today.

San Jose Sharks Name Logan Couture Captain

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It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but Logan Couture has been named the next captain of the San Jose Sharks. The team lost Joe Pavelski to free agency and the Dallas Stars this summer, leaving the role vacant. Couture was the obvious choice at this point in his career, though he’ll have a great stable of alternates to lean on. Brent Burns, Tomas Hertl, Erik Karlsson and Joe Thornton will all have an “A” on their sweater at times this season. Head coach Peter DeBoer explained the decision:

Since I arrived in San Jose four seasons ago, we have been blessed with a tremendous amount of leadership on our roster. Logan has grown up within that environment and evolved into someone who not only plays his best hockey when it matters the most, but who also leads by example off the ice. He knows what it takes to win and his performance in our recent playoff runs reflects that. Most importantly, Logan has the respect of his teammates and we’re extremely proud to name him as the tenth captain of the San Jose Sharks.

Couture, 30, has developed into one of the most consistent two-way players in the entire league and is coming off a career-high 70 points in 2018-19. While his regular season offense has been excellent—Couture has scored at least 21 goals in every season of his career save one injury-shortened campaign and a 25-game rookie stint—it’s the playoffs where he has made his real impact for the Sharks. A leader every year when the postseason rolls around, Couture has 48 goals and 101 points in 116 career playoff games. His presence was felt all the more when Pavelski went down to multiple injuries this past spring (though they didn’t keep him out long), and it seemed obvious then that Couture would eventually take over as captain.

Among his alternates he’ll have two former captains in Karlsson and Thornton, one of the most impactful defensemen in the league in Burns and link to the next wave of Sharks’ talent in Hertl.

Erik Karlsson, Tomas Hertl, Joe Pavelski Out For Game Six

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7:00pm CT: Pavelski has officially been added to the list of absences from the Sharks’ lineup tonight. The captain, who is also an impending unrestricted free agent, may have already played in his final game for San Jose if the team is eliminated tonight and opts not to re-sign him this off-season.

12:00pm CT: The San Jose Sharks will be without at least two of their stars for tonight’s elimination game. Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl both did not make the trip to St. Louis to face the Blues in game six of the Western Conference Final. Joe Pavelski, who did make the trip but missed this morning’s optional skate, is a game-time decision for the Sharks.

Karlsson has been dealing with a groin injury for much of the season and was obviously limited in game five, disappearing from the bench in the third period entirely. The star defenseman was probably a detriment to his team for that game, but has actually had an excellent postseason despite the injury. In 19 games Karlsson has 16 points, and still leads the entire Stanley Cup playoffs with 14 assists.

Hertl meanwhile was likely hurt on a play where he collided with Ivan Barbashev near center ice, though he would return to the game for a while. Hertl too was kept out of the third period as the Sharks continued to play more and more short handed. The 25-year old has turned into arguably the most dangerous offensive forward for the Sharks this season, recording 35 goals and 74 points during the regular season. He didn’t stop when the playoffs began, and has 15 points—including ten goals—through 19 games.

Losing these two is obviously a huge blow to a Sharks team that is trying to stay alive once again in these playoffs. It also may have an effect on Karlsson’s future, given that he is still unsigned and scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Speculation over his market has already begun, with his injury history affecting how the league sees him moving forward.

Ivan Barbashev Will Not Receive Supplementary Discipline

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In a bit of insult added to injury, the San Jose Sharks will have to accept that Ivan Barbashev will be in the lineup again tomorrow night. The St. Louis Blues forward will not receive any supplementary discipline for his hit on Tomas Hertl. Greg Wyshynski of ESPN tweets that the Department of Player Safety could not determine if the head was a main point of contract, or whether the force of the hit was enough to warrant suspension. Barbashev came across the middle and made contact with Hertl, who ended up missing the third period after being removed from the game.

The Sharks were embarrassed on home ice last night in a 5-0 loss that saw Hertl, Erik Karlsson, Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi all leave due to injury for large chunks of the game. Micheal Haley and Evander Kane both also received misconduct penalties, leaving the Sharks’ bench extremely short to end the game. The team now faces a do-or-die situation in St. Louis tomorrow night and could be without several top players.

Still, the Sharks have shown in these playoffs that they’re not easy to defeat even when things look dire. The team scored four times on a five minute major against the Vegas Golden Knights in game seven of the first round and managed to hold on to an early lead in game seven of the second round against the Colorado Avalanche. Those long series may be taking their toll on the group physically, but also may have prepared them for this elimination game tomorrow night.

Pacific Notes: Pavelski, Donskoi, Quick, DiPietro

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The San Jose Sharks are expected to get back a key forward for Game 5 on Saturday, but it won’t be captain Joe Pavelski. The veteran forward, who has been out after hitting his head on the ice in Game 7 of the first-round of the playoffs after taking a hit from Vegas’ Cody Eakin, has been skating more often this week, but is still not ready to return, according to Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. “Getting better. Starting to skate regular,” head coach Peter DeBoer said of Pavelski, but added “Not in tonight.”

However, the Sharks are expected to be getting back Joonas Donskoi, who has missed the last five games with an undisclosed injury after taking a hit from Vegas’ Brayden McNabb in Game 6 in the first round. The winger said he’s available to play, although DeBoer said that Donskoi will be a game-time decision. The 27-year-old has appeared in just three playoff games this season with no points. Donskoi was a healthy scratch for the first three games of their first-round series to allow Micheal Haley to play. If Donskoi does go in, he would likely replace Lukas Radil and join the team’s third line along with Tomas Hertl and Evander Kane. Haley is expected to play on the fourth line regardless.

  • The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman (subscription required), in a mailbag column, suggests that the Los Angeles Kings would be better off holding on to veteran goaltender Jonathan Quick. With the team moving towards a rebuilding project, many feel that trading Quick makes the most sense, especially considering the success that Jack Campbell and Calvin Petersen had this season. However, Dillman writes that with four years remaining on his contract at $5.8MM AAV, there will likely be few takers for Quick considering his poor numbers last year (3.38 GAA, .888 save percentage). She writes that it would be better for the Kings to hold onto him and hope he can bounce back and increase his value ahead of the trade deadline or next off-season.
  • Vancouver Canucks prospect goaltender Michael DiPietro got injured Saturday in the OHL playoffs, according to Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal, who adds that he hears it is a high-ankle sprain, which could end his season early. The 19-year-old star goalie prospect, who is expected to join the Utica Comets next season in the AHL, is 13-0 in the playoffs with a 2.24 GAA and a .917 save percentage. The injury should not affect his availability to begin next season.

Injury Updates: Bruins, Vilardi, Hertl, Maroon

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The Bruins have not had much in the way of good luck when it comes to injuries, particularly on their back end.  They can add Zdeno Chara to the list of the walking wounded after he sustained a lower-body injury on Wednesday night and the team has sent him back to Boston for testing.  It doesn’t appear any help is on the immediate horizon either; Matt Porter of the Boston Globe notes that of their injured defensemen (which also includes Charlie McAvoy, Kevan Miller, Brandon Carlo, and Urho Vaakanainen), Miller is the only one that is somewhat close to a return but isn’t expected to be ready to play for a few more games.  As a result, they project to have a pretty inexperienced unit when they face off against Dallas on Friday night.

More injury notes from what has been a particularly rough day around the league:

  • Kings prospect center Gabriel Vilardi has been cleared to participate in full practices, GM Rob Blake told Curtis Zupke of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). He is expected to be re-evaluated in two weeks where the team will determine the next step.  Although Vilardi can’t play full-time for their AHL affiliate in Ontario, he can go down on a conditioning loan while the Canadian World Junior training camp is roughly one month away and will also be an option for the 19-year-old given his performance at the OHL level last season.
  • Sharks winger Tomas Hertl is dealing with a lower-body injury, notes Kevin Kurz of The Athletic (Twitter link). Head coach Peter DeBoer stated that no surgery is needed and that he won’t be out for weeks so fortunately for San Jose, it appears to be a somewhat minor issue.  The 25-year-old is off to a very strong start to his season, collecting 16 points (5-11-16) in 16 games and sits fourth on the team in scoring despite missing three games earlier this month with a head injury.
  • In his first game back after spending two games as a healthy scratch, Blues forward Patrick Maroon suffered an upper-body injury. The team announced that they have sent him back to St. Louis for testing and have ruled him out of the final three games on their current road trip.  The veteran got off to a good start to his first season in his hometown with six assists in his first nine games but has just one in five contests since then.

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