Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Tomas Hertl

West Notes: Seguin, Hakanpaa, Hertl, Pietrangelo

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Top Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin has hopefully worked his way back from a long-term absence, with head coach Pete DeBoer designating him as a game-time decision on Wednesday (Twitter Link). DeBoer was still cautious about saying too much, though, mentioning the team will see how Seguin feels tomorrow. The Stars were also without defenseman Jani Hakanpaa at practice on Tuesday. He’s facing a lower-body injury and carries a day-to-day timeline.

Seguin has been out since February 22nd, missing Dallas’ last 11 games. He’s been a force when he is on the ice, scoring 20 goals and 45 points in just 58 appearances this season. That puts him on an 82-game pace of 28 goals and 64 points, which would mark the most Seguin has scored since his 80-point season in 2018-19. His return to form is part of an emphatic wave of offense taking over Dallas this season, with nine different Stars carrying 45 or more points this season. They rank second in the league in total goals for and goals-per-game, sat behind the Colorado Avalanche in both stats.

Seguin will likely bump Ty Dellandrea out of the lineup, while Hakanpaa’s absence will open the way for Nils Lundkvist to return. If he does step in, Lundkvist will be playing in his first game since March 8th, when he appeared in just over nine minutes of Dallas’ 6-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. He’s been purely a bottom-pair defenseman this season, averaging roughly 15 minutes of ice time and serving as a prime candidate for reduced minutes if the flow of the game requires it. But he’s managed the best scoring pace of his career, with two goals and 15 points in 46 games. He’ll look to chase his career-high of 16 points, set last year, if he’s able to step back into a gameday role.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The newest Vegas Golden Knight, Tomas Hertl, is expected to resume skating by the end of this week or early next week, sources shared with SinBin.Vegas (Twitter link). When asked about Hertl after Tuesday’s practice, head coach Bruce Cassidy said, “Our medical team has a timeline. I’m not gonna give it to you. I don’t want to say out of sight of mind… but when he gets here it’ll be a luxury.” Hertl has been facing loose cartilage in his left knee that required surgery in February. He’s scored 15 goals and 34 points in 48 games with the San Jose Sharks this season and could be poised to make a huge impact on the Vegas roster, as he’s set to play outside of San Jose for the first time in his 11-year career.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights were without top defenseman Alex Pietrangelo at Tuesday’s practice. The veteran defender is now expected to miss the team’s Tuesday game with illness, per Cassidy (Twitter link). Pietrangelo has four goals and 32 points in 62 games this season, and plays in a commanding 23-minutes a night. That leaves big shoes to be filled, with newcomer Noah Hanifin and seventh-man Zach Whitecloud poised to get more ice time as a result.

Golden Knights Acquire Tomáš Hertl

at CDT | by 35 Comments

The Golden Knights and Sharks have agreed to a deal sending all-star center Tomáš Hertl, a 2025 third-round pick, and a 2027 third-round pick from San Jose to Vegas in exchange for center prospect David Edstrom and a 2025 first-round pick, reports Darren Dreger of TSN. The Sharks are retaining 17% of Hertl’s contract, making his cap hit for the Golden Knights $6.75MM.

It’s a true shocker of a deal, given that the Sharks had given no previous indication of selling off their number-one center, who is under contract through 2030. Hertl, 30, had a no-move clause in his deal that he waived to accept a trade to Vegas. He’s on injured reserve after undergoing knee surgery last month but is expected back before the end of the regular season. Before the injury, Hertl had 15 goals, 19 assists and 34 points in 48 games, which led the Sharks in scoring at the time.

While Hertl will be an incredibly important on-ice factor for the Golden Knights in their effort to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, the financial aspects of this deal are also highly consequential. With captain Mark Stone on long-term injured reserve, as well as former starting goaltender Robin Lehner, the Golden Knights have been able to bring in three major targets in Hertl, top-four defenseman Noah Hanifin, and winger Anthony Mantha, albeit with salary retained on all of them by their former teams.

Hertl will be eligible for LTIR after the trade call goes through, but the Golden Knights must have cap space to add him to their active roster before doing so. As of now, they don’t have said space. Per CapFriendly, the team has $5.5MM in their LTIR pool – roughly $1.25MM short of what they need to acquire Hertl. To execute this trade, the Golden Knights will likely assign forwards Byron Froese and Mason Morelli to AHL Henderson briefly, bringing them down to 10 forwards and seven defensemen on the active roster. Their cap hits equate to $1.54MM. The trade will then go through, allowing them to remain cap-compliant while absorbing Hertl’s $6.75MM cap hit before placing him on LTIR, backdated to when he last played in late January, at which point they can bring Froese and Morelli back up. That won’t solve all of Vegas’ problems, though, as they’ll need to free up that space again to take Hertl off LTIR before the end of the regular season.

Hertl can play both center and left wing, although he’s likely to remain down the middle (or on the wing alongside William Karlsson) for the Golden Knights as they attempt to shore up their second line behind Jack Eichel. Chandler Stephenson is amidst a down season, posting 38 points in 59 games with uncharacteristically poor defensive impacts. Hertl is an underratedly competent two-way player, and he should help round out their offense enough to counteract Stephenson’s regression and allow him to drop to a third-line role.

The Prague-born center has remained a consistent two-way force even as the Sharks’ roster has crumbled around him, producing at least 0.70 points per game in every season since 2018. Remarkably, he’s managed a -2.5 expected rating on this year’s Sharks, the first time he’s posted a negative in that stat in his career. That rating was the second-highest among full-time Sharks skaters, save for Ryan Carpenter. He also had a 46.6 CF% at even strength, 4.9% higher than the Sharks’ overall CF% without Hertl on the ice.

Meanwhile, the Sharks have made the surprising choice to use up all three of their salary retention slots for the time being, preventing them from being third-party brokers for any draft-day deal. All three spots will also be occupied next season, as they’re still retaining salary on the contracts of Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson. Burns’ deal expires in 2025, but Karlsson’s lasts through 2027, so only one retention slot will open next summer.

They do land a nice prospect in Edstrom, although the return seems underwhelming considering the length of time they’ll be on the hook for a portion of Hertl’s salary – especially considering they conceded two third-round picks in the trade. Edstrom was the last pick of the first round of last year’s draft, and has posted 17 points in 42 games while on loan to Frölunda HC in the Swedish Hockey League. He projects as a relatively safe high-floor, low-ceiling third-line pivot. The Golden Knights signed him to an entry-level deal over the summer, and he’ll be an RFA in 2026.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie was first to report that Hertl was heading to Vegas.

ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was first to report that the Sharks were retaining a portion of Hertl’s salary.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

West Notes: Tourigny, Hertl, Pelletier, Blueger

at CDT | by 1 Comment

It has been a rough go for the Coyotes as of late having lost eight straight games heading into today’s action.  However, GM Bill Armstrong dismissed any notion of head coach Andre Tourigny being in jeopardy of losing his job, telling PHNX’s Craig Morgan that he won’t be making a coaching change.  Arizona was in a Wild Card spot when the calendar flipped to 2024 but now is ten points behind St. Louis for the final playoff spot.  Armstrong hasn’t hidden the fact that the plan was for a long rebuild process and while it appears the Coyotes are likely to miss the playoff for the fourth straight season (12th straight if you don’t count the expanded 2020-21 postseason), Tourigny is still viewed as the right coach to help them take that next step.

More from the Western Conference:

  • It will still be another week or so before the Sharks learn exactly how long Tomas Hertl will be out for, notes Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The 30-year-old has missed the last three weeks after undergoing surgery to remove cartilage from his left knee.  While it has been a particularly rough year for most players in San Jose, Hertl has fared relatively well this season, all things considered.  Despite missing six games, he still leads the Sharks in scoring with 34 points through 48 games.  Pashelka notes that there is optimism that Hertl will be able to return at some point before the regular season comes to an end in April but with San Jose so far out of playoff contention, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him get shut down for the season altogether.
  • Flames winger Jakob Pelletier is making progress in his recovery from an upper-body injury that has caused him to miss the last two games but he isn’t expected to play on Monday versus Winnipeg, relays Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link). The 22-year-old has been limited to just four games so far this season (plus four more in the minors) due to injury.  However, it appears this one won’t keep him out for much longer.
  • The Canucks have identified Teddy Blueger as one of their pending unrestricted free agents that they’d like to re-sign, CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reported in a recent segment on Sportsnet 650 (audio link). The 29-year-old inked a one-year, $1.9MM deal with them back in July and has done well, picking up 22 points in 42 games while being one of their top-used penalty killers.  That said, contract discussions have not started as of yet and Dhaliwal feels that Vancouver may wait until late in the year to start discussing new deals with the UFA’s they’d like to keep.

Tomáš Hertl To Undergo Knee Surgery, Out Several Weeks

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Sharks center Tomáš Hertl will be out for several weeks while he recovers from a surgical procedure to clean out loose cartilage in his left knee, GM Mike Grier said Monday. Hertl has been placed on injured reserve as a result, per the NHL media site.

Hertl was previously listed as day-to-day with a recurrent lower-body injury. He issued the following statement on his decision to play in this month’s All-Star Game despite missing the two prior games with the knee ailment:

I have been experiencing soreness in my left knee on and off this season. After speaking with doctors and our medical staff earlier this year, it was clear that the injury was not going to get any worse and I could continue to play through it, including attending the NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto. After returning from Toronto and having additional conversations with my family and our team medical staff over the last week, I made the decision to have this procedure done now so that I can return to 100% as soon as possible. I look forward to returning to the ice and getting back with my teammates as soon as I can.

With just over two months remaining in the regular season and the Sharks contending for the draft lottery instead of the postseason, the surgery could very well be season-ending. If so, San Jose will have had their top two centers, Hertl and captain Logan Couture, available for the same game only four times in 2023-24.

Now two seasons into an eight-year, $65.1MM extension signed in 2022, Hertl has done everything he can for a bottom-feeder Sharks team without much of a supporting cast this year. The 30-year-old is averaging nearly 21 minutes per game, a career-high, and leads the team in goals (15) and points (34). He’s excelled in the faceoff circle, too, winning upwards of 56% of his draws for the first time since his rookie year.

He’s managed to stay above water possession-wise relative to his teammates despite extremely difficult usage, posting a 46% Corsi share at even strength that ranks seventh on the team. Hertl’s been worth the money early into his massive extension, even if the team’s lack of success has largely rendered it irrelevant.

San Jose’s 17th overall pick in the 2012 draft, the Sharks lifer has now appeared in over 700 games for the club in parts of 11 seasons. He ranks seventh in franchise history in games played (712), fifth in goals (218), seventh in assists (266), and sixth in points (484).

With Hertl out long-term, expect shutdown men Ryan Carpenter and Nico Sturm to see a slight increase in minutes for the rest of the year, especially with Couture still not at full health. It could also mean another NHL look for 2020 second-round pick Thomas Bordeleau, who has 19 points in 26 games with AHL San Jose this season.

Afternoon Notes: Lindholm, Zellweger, Hertl

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Vancouver Canucks are hoping that Elias Lindholm can stick around, with the team’s President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford sharing that, “Lindholm could be a rental. He could be a long-term guy. In an ideal world, we’d like to keep him.” The Canucks acquired Lindholm on Wednesday, sending the Calgary Flames Andrei Kuzmenko, Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, and a first and fourth-round draft pick in return.

Lindholm’s contract extension has been heavily discussed throughout the season, with reports from the summer sharing that he could be asking for as much as $9MM per year on a new deal. That’s likely changed after what’s been a slow season for Lindholm, who has only managed nine goals and 32 points through 49 games – continuing his decline in scoring since scoring a career-high 42 goals and 82 points in 82 games during the 2021-22 season. The 29-year-old will look to regain his former scoring touch – and his value on an extension – now on a Vancouver Canucks team that ranks second in the league in scoring.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Anaheim Ducks have sent top defensive prospect Olen Zellweger to the minor leagues. This move is likely to get Zellweger ice time while the Ducks have an eight-day break for the All-Star Break. Zellweger has appeared in the first four NHL games of his career since getting the first recall of his career on January 23rd. He’s recorded one assist and a +2 in those outings, still looking for the first goal of his career. The 20-year-old is in his first pro season, after spending the last four seasons in the WHL. He’s had a hot start to his professional career, ranking third among rookie AHL defensemen in scoring with 25 points through 34 games.
  • Top San Jose Sharks forward Tomas Hertl, who has been out for the team’s last two games, shared with media that he will play in Saturday’s NHL All-Star Game. This will be Hertl’s return from a lower-body injury that’s held him out since January 27th. The 30-year-old has scored 15 goals and 34 points through 48 games this season, leading the Sharks in both categories.

Pacific Notes: Lindholm, Hertl, Karlsson

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Flames center Elias Lindholm is one of the top players believed to be available between now and the trade deadline should the two sides fail to work out an extension between now and then.  In an appearance on 630 CHED (audio link), Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli suggested that Calgary’s asking price could involve a first-round pick plus multiple pieces, one of which being NHL-ready or close to it with the team not necessarily motivated for a long-term rebuild.  Lindholm is only two years removed from a 42-goal season but has just nine so far through 49 games so far in 2023-24.  However, with his track record and defensive ability, there’s a good chance the Flames can land a package like that for the pending unrestricted free agent who will be seeing a sizable raise on his current $4.85MM AAV.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • With the Sharks in a full-scale rebuild, many have wondered about the futures of their remaining veteran forwards. One of those is Tomas Hertl and it appears he’s also wondering about his future and where he fits in San Jose’s long-term plans.  The center told reporters including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News that he’d like to discuss his fit with the organization moving forward.  Before adding him to the speculative rumor mill, Hertl acknowledged that those discussions likely wouldn’t happen until the end of the season.  The 30-year-old has six years left on his contract after this season with a cap hit of just over $8.1MM.  Other teams will likely want San Jose to pay that down somewhat if Hertl and GM Mike Grier decide in the summer or down the road that a parting of ways makes the most sense for the franchise so a move, if one could be coming, could take a while.
  • The Canucks announced (Twitter link) that Linus Karlsson has been returned to AHL Abbotsford. The 24-year-old has been shuffled back and forth frequently this month but it hasn’t resulted in much NHL playing time as he has suited up in just four games with Vancouver so far.  Meanwhile, in the minors, Karlsson has produced close to a point-per-game, noting 25 points in 28 appearances so far.

Sharks Notes: Ferraro, MacDonald, Hertl

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Sharks moved blue-liner Mario Ferraro to injured reserve on Monday, per CapFriendly. Ferraro, 25, has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury sustained against the Kings over a week ago.

While he’s eligible to return at any time, given he’s been sidelined for at least seven days, Ferraro is likely to sit out the Sharks’ two remaining games before the All-Star break, according to the last update on his status. The Sharks have an odd schedule surrounding the break – after getting two games in on Tuesday and Wednesday before the league schedule shuts down for a brief prior, they’re off for an extended period of time after the break. Ferraro will have a full two weeks to recover after the Sharks’ back-to-back slate this week, and all signs point to him returning for their Feb. 14 contest against the Jets.

Signed through 2026 with a $3.25MM cap hit, Ferraro is the Sharks’ de facto number-one defender after trading Erik Karlsson to the Penguins last summer. It’s a tough spot for the 6-foot, 209-lb Canadian to be in, although he’s on pace to break his previous career-high in points. He’s scored once and added 13 assists in 47 games this season, averaging nearly 23 minutes per game. He’s boasted better even-strength possession numbers than the average Shark this season, but the team’s abhorrent defensive depth means he’s been on the ice for 90 total goals against – the most of any player in the league.

Other updates from San Jose:

  • Ferraro was moved to IR to create a roster space for Jacob MacDonald, who the team activated from IR yesterday. The defenseman-turned-winger has been one of the team’s most effective goal-scorers when in the lineup this year, but a laundry list of appearances has limited him to 17 games. Despite that, his six goals are tied for sixth on the team. The 30-year-old’s latest absence was a lower-body injury that kept him out of the lineup since Christmas, resulting in a 15-game absence. It’s unclear whether he’ll draw into the lineup tonight for a Sharks team that’s gaining some relative momentum, winning three out of their last four games.
  • Adding to their win total over the next two days may be tough without the services of first-line center Tomáš Hertl, who head coach David Quinn said is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury (via The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka). The 30-year-old did not practice yesterday and may have been injured in the same collision against the Sabres last Saturday that sidelined Buffalo winger Jack Quinn for the next eight weeks. Unsurprisingly, Hertl’s 15 goals and 34 points lead the Sharks, as does his nearly 21 minutes of ice time per game among forwards. A Hertl absence would mean a slightly elevated role for captain Logan Couture, who has an assist in slightly over 18 minutes per game in four contests since returning from a lower-body injury.

Jack Quinn Expected To Be Out Longer Term

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

January 29th: Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News has confirmed that Quinn had surgery today for a lower-body injury and will miss the next eight weeks.

January 28th: Sportsnet is reporting that Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Quinn is expected to be out longer term according to Sabres head coach Don Granato. The Sabres bench boss spoke with the media after a 5-2 Sabres win over the San Jose Sharks telling them that the injury he suffered during the game likely wouldn’t be a day-to-day situation.

Quinn left the game around the mid-way point of the third period after he was hit along the boards by Sharks forward Tomas Hertl. Quinn couldn’t put any weight on his left leg after getting to his feet and slowly making his way to the Sabres bench.

It’s an unfortunate result for the Ottawa, Ontario native as he had just worked his way back into the lineup a little over a month ago after he had suffered an Achilles injury last summer when training. The 22-year-old had added some scoring punch to a Sabres lineup that desperately needed it as Quinn had posted five goals and seven assists in 17 games. The former Ottawa 67’s star has been an effective complimentary piece for Buffalo with 20 goals and 31 assists in 94 career games.

The Sabres have yet to make any official announcement regarding Quinn’s status going forward and will likely require testing before having any concrete timeline on his return. The Sabres don’t play again until February 6th when they return from the all-star break to take on the Dallas Stars.

NHL Names Western Conference All-Stars

at CDT | by 15 Comments

Sportsnet is reporting that the NHL has named the first 16 selections from the Western Conference who will appear in the NHL All-Star Game that will take place February 3rd in Toronto.

The game will be held in Canada for the first time since 2012, when it was held in Ottawa. Toronto hasn’t hosted the game since 2000 and this year will be the first time that the NHL uses a four-team, three-on-three format in combination with the fantasy draft format that was used from 2011-2015. The league will name four captains, one for each team, who will take part in a draft to select their teams on February 1st.

The initial players named from the Western Conference are as follows:

Central Division

Arizona: LW Clayton Keller (4th appearance)
Chicago: C Connor Bedard (1st appearance)
Colorado: C Nathan MacKinnon (3rd appearance)
Dallas: G Jake Oettinger (1st appearance)
Minnesota: LW Kirill Kaprizov (3rd appearance)
Nashville: C Filip Forsberg (1st appearance)
St. Louis: C Robert Thomas (1st appearance)
Winnipeg: G Connor Hellebuyck (3rd appearance)

Pacific Division

Anaheim: LW Frank Vatrano (1st appearance)
Calgary: C Elias Lindholm (1st appearance)
Edmonton: C Connor McDavid (7th appearance)
Los Angeles: G Cam Talbot (1st appearance)
San Jose: C Tomas Hertl (1st appearance)
Seattle: RW Oliver Bjorkstrand (1st appearance)
Vancouver: D Quinn Hughes (1st appearance)
Vegas: C Jack Eichel (1st appearance)

The initial announcements of 32 players (one player to represent each team) tonight will be followed by the naming of the final 12 all-stars in the coming weeks. Those 12 players will be decided by a fan vote on NHL.com as well as several of the NHL’s social media platforms.

Injury Notes: San Jose Sharks, Conor Sheary, Timothy Liljegren

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

San Jose Sharks winger Alexander Barabanov returned to the team’s practice for the first time since his October 24th finger injury. Barbanov did not take part in line rushes during the team skate, suggesting that he still isn’t ready to return just yet. The Sharks were also without top winger Tomas Hertl at the Thursday practice. Hertl has been out of action since November 25th with a mid-body injury.

The loss of the wingers is a hit to the Sharks forward group. Hertl substantially leads the team in points, scoring four goals and 16 points through his first 21 games. Fabian Zetterlund, who has nine points in 22 games, ranks second on the team in scoring – significantly behind Hertl. And while Barabanov has gone without a point through the six games he’s managed this season, he did record 15 goals and 47 points in 68 games last year – adding 20 penalty minutes and a -30. His point totals ranked fifth on the 2022-23 Sharks.

Other injury notes around the league:

  • Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper shared that Conor Sheary is working closer to a return. Tampa is gearing up for a six-game road trip that begins in Nashville and then takes the team across the Northwest, beginning on December 7th. Cooper said that Sheary will likely play at some point on the road trip, albeit likely one of the later games.
  • Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe shared that Timothy Liljegren has returned to on-ice activities but isn’t yet close to a return. Liljegren has been out since November 2nd with an ankle injury. The 24-year-old defenseman has appeared in 10 games this season, notching one assist and a -1. He totaled six goals and 18 points in 67 games last season.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top