Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Tomas Hertl

San Jose Sharks Call Up Timo Meier

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Finally, the savior is coming up in San Jose – or, so the fans would have you believe. Timo Meier is on his way up to San Jose after just 17 games in the AHL. The injury to Logan Couture last night against the Ottawa Senators forced the Sharks hand, as they’re also without Tomas Hertl for the immediate future.

Meier was the 9th overall pick in the 2015 draft after dominating the QMJHL with 90 points in 61 games. His next year, he scored 87 in just 52 despite having to deal with being traded mid season. This year, the 20-year old is scoring at almost a point-per-game pace in the AHL, and showing that he can use his physical style in the professional game.  A power-forward through and through, Meier can get in penalty trouble with his aggressive game, but can already dominate at times against much older players.

Since the Sharks are missing Couture and Hertl, Meier may well find his way into the top-six immediately, with Joe Pavelski sliding back to the middle to solidify the second line. While nothing is set in stone, it’ll be interesting to see the line rushes tomorrow morning when the Sharks prepare for their game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Amazingly, the player sent down to make room for Meier is Mirco Mueller, who has been involved in more transactions than one can count in the last few days. Also a former first-round pick, Mueller has spent many days with the Sharks this season without getting into a single contest. He was just called up on Monday, his third time in seven days.

Sharks Reassign Labanc, Carpenter To AHL

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The San Jose Sharks have reassigned forwards Kevin Labanc and Ryan Carpenter to the San Jose Barracuda, according to the AHL’s transaction page and reported by Curtis Pashelka (Twitter link). The moves leave the team with just 12 healthy forwards on the roster but with the Sharks off until next Wednesday, it allows the duo to perhaps get in some game action in the interim as the Barracuda have games tonight and tomorrow in San Antonio. One or both could be recalled in advance of Wednesday’s contest in San Jose against Ottawa.

Pashelka also adds that the reassignments allow the Sharks to bank a little bit of cap space ahead of the trade deadline. Currently the club has roughly $2.5MM in cap space but that includes nearly $3MM in relief due to Tomas Hertl being on LTIR. As a team so close to the cap ceiling, any dollar saved today can help give them enough space to add reinforcements at the trade deadline.

Carpenter, who scored his first career NHL goal on November 30th, has been a healthy scratch in each of the last two contests. He’s appeared in three games this season and is averaging 8:52 of ice time. He’s accumulated seven points in 12 contests for the Barracuda this season.

Labanc, soon to turn 21, has two goals and four points in 12 appearances for the Sharks. The first-year pro has tallied four goals and 10 points in six AHL games.

 

Pacific Notes: Rakell, Hertl, Burrows

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After spending a big portion of last season as Anaheim’s second line center, Rickard Rakell has turned into somewhat of a utility player for the Ducks so far this season, notes Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register.  At times early on this season, Rakell has been deployed on a two-way third line alongside Antoine Vermette while at others, he has been moved up with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf on the top trio.  Head coach Randy Carlyle hasn’t hesitated to move Rakell in and out of each situation midway through games either, depending on the situation.

It’s safe to say that shifting back and forth hasn’t negatively affected the 23 year old who signed a six year, $22.8MM deal last month.  Through ten games so far this season, he has six goals and four assists while averaging over 17 minutes of playing time per night.  It’s safe to suggest that the Ducks won’t be back in his old second line center role anytime soon.

[Related: Ducks Depth Chart]

More from the Pacific Division:

  • San Jose center Tomas Hertl will be out indefinitely with a right knee sprain, reports CSN Bay Area’s Kevin Kurz. Hertl is set to undergo a minor procedure later today and no timetable has been set for his return.  This is already the third time in his career that he has had to deal with a right knee problem, including back in the Stanley Cup Final, an issue that also kept him out of the World Cup of Hockey.  As we noted yesterday, center Danny O’Regan was recalled to take Hertl’s spot on the roster.
  • Although Vancouver left winger Alex Burrows is a prime candidate to be a rental player for another team between now and the trade deadline, he hasn’t given much thought to the possibility of being moved yet, writes Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province. He has a cap hit of $4.5MM which would suggest that any possible move will be later rather than sooner.  However, with a full no-trade clause, Burrows can control his own destiny when it comes to the trade market.  Kuzma suggests that the Canadiens and Rangers would be two teams that would have an interest in the 35 year old, who has five points in 15 games so far this season.

San Jose Sharks Snapshots: Burns, Labanc

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Brent Burns and his potential free agency next summer is already a hot topic and will only continue to grow more popular as the season progresses with no contract extension between the blue liner and the San Jose Sharks. There is no doubt Burns is set to cash in whether he re-signs with the Sharks or heads to the open market and as Adam Gretz of FanRag Sports Network argues, Burns will be well worth every penny on his next contract.

Gretz speculates that given what similar defenseman have received, Burns should have no trouble finding a deal worth anywhere between $7MM and $8MM annually. That would place him easily among the highest paid blue liners in the game as only P.K. Subban has a contract with an AAV in excess of $8MM. But as Gretz points out, since becoming a full-time blue liner in 2014-15, Burns has more goals than anyone else at the position with 50.

Further, Burns ranks behind only Erik Karlsson in points with 149 and has more shots on goal than any other defender with 673.

Of course it’s easy to rationalize paying Burns or any other defenseman $8MM-a-year based on his current production level; the real question is how he is going to fare the longer his contract runs.

At 31, Burns is likely to get the seven-year max contract – eight if he re-signs with San Jose – which will take him well into his late 30’s. Naturally, Burns’ performance will decline as he ages and whoever signs the 6-foot-5, 230-pound defenseman will have to hope it’s a slow decline rather than a sudden one.

Assuming Burns finishes the current campaign strong he has a strong chance to join an accomplished group of defenders who have averaged 0.80-points-per-game or better between their age 29 and 31 seasons. According to Gretz, just 16 others have done that and many of those played during the 1980’s when scoring was significantly higher than it was in any other era. Gretz takes it further, noting that those blue liners saw on average a 19% decrease in point production over the four years following that stretch between 29 and 31. If Burns follows that same trend he would still be a 50-point scorer in year four of his next contract.

Granted, Gretz’s analysis does leave open the likelihood that Burns’ performance will decline further in years five through seven. In fact, he may well not be worth what he will be paid during those seasons but that’s a risk every team that signs a big money, long-term deal accepts. The hope is to get enough surplus value in the first half of the pact to offset the losses likely to be seen in the back half.

In other San Jose Sharks news:

  • An unlikely top prospect, Brooklyn-born Kevin Labanc, who was selected by the Sharks in the sixth round of the 2014 entry draft, made his NHL debut last week. In five contests since joining San Jose, Labanc only has one point. But the rookie winger had his best game so far, as Kevin Kurz of CSN Bay Area reports, playing on a line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski in Thursday’s loss to St. Louis. Labanc notched his first NHL goal and nearly had another later in the game. The Sharks are going to need more games like that from the youngster as they may be without the services of Tomas Hertl for a while.

Injury Notes: Hertl, Sharp, Bortuzzo

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Tomas Hertl has flown back to San Jose to undergo an MRI on his knee, according to Kevin Kurz of CSN. The Sharks forward injured himself in the second period last night, leaving the game and not returning. While the extent of the injury is unknown, “waiting for MRI results” has not been a nice feeling for fans around the league of late; both Steven Stamkos and Taylor Hall received terrible news following trips home for examination.

If Hertl is to miss any length of time, it would adversely affect a Sharks squad that is already having trouble scoring goals. With 39 goals scored, they rank ahead of only the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference. While the team is still carrying a positive 9-8-0 record through the first 17 games, losing one of their top scoring threats would be devastating.

  • Patrick Sharp is set to make his return to the lineup Saturday night for the Dallas Stars. The veteran sniper has missed the last fourteen games with a concussion suffered on a hit from Brayden McNabb in October. The consistent scoring threat is coming off his eighth 20-goal season, and hoping to reach that mark again in what is a contract year for the 34-year old. Sharp is earning $5.9MM this season in the final year of a five-year, $29.5MM deal signed way back in 2011. Even at his advanced age he’s likely to be looking for a multi-year contract to end his career.
  • The Blues are starting to get healthier, as Robert Bortuzzo will be returning this weekend as well. The defenseman has missed the past ten games with a lower-body injury, though it’s not a guarantee that he’ll crack the lineup right away. As Ken Hitchcock points out “The one challenge for us is we’re carrying lefty-righty right now and it’s working, so that’s something we’ve got to think about also.”  With Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk ahead of him, Bortuzzo would have to beat out Colton Parayko to skate on the right side, which is much easier said than done the way the 23-year old has established himself this season.

San Jose Sharks Recall Kevin Labanc

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The San Jose Sharks have decided he’s waited long enough, and have recalled 20-year old Kevin Labanc from the AHL. No word on the corresponding move, or whether Labanc will feature in the lineup right away.

After being selected in the sixth round of the 2014 draft, Labanc has done nothing but score. 234 points in the following two years of junior made him a can’t-miss prospect in the Sharks system, and after making his AHL debut in last year’s playoffs, he was off to a scorching start in his rookie year. The forward has 10 points in 6 games, and will now see if his up-tempo game and playmaking ability can work at the next level.

For the Sharks, a team that is trying to get younger while saying goodbye to its older core, Labanc represents the next wave of talent. The 5’11” actually plays more of a physical game than one would expect, and can dominate on the powerplay with his crisp passing ability. Whether the Sharks, who currently rank 12th in the NHL will use him on the man advantage is unclear.

With Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau likely exiting San Jose after this season, the team needed to start looking forward to who will fill their top-six next year.  If Labanc can find any success as a rookie this season, perhaps he’ll be ready to skate alongside Tomas Hertl next year, on one of the top two lines.

Pacific Division Snapshots: Boedker, Megna, Stecher, McGinn

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After an “underwhelming” start to the 2016-17 campaign, San Jose bench boss Peter DeBoer has shuffled his lines in an effort to spark the 2 – 3 Sharks, writes Paul Gackle of The Mercury News. Tomas Hertl, who has spent much of the season skating on the top line with Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton, slides down the lineup and will center the third line. Meanwhile, Mikkel Boedker and Joel Ward have been promoted and will each move up a line.

Hertl, who has two goals and three points in six contests, will center a line with Patrick Marleau and Melker Karlsson on his wings. Boedker joins the aforementioned Pavelski and Thornton on the first line. Ward takes over as the second line right wing and will skate with Logan Couture and Joonas Donskoi.

For DeBoer, it’s not about punishing poor play or rewarding good; it’s about trying to find the right combinations that will allow the coach to roll four forward lines.

“It’s not a panic situation or anything, but you’re always looking for ways to get the most out of your group and our four-line game hasn’t been where I want it to be. I want to make sure that we are a four-line team and we’ll keep shuffling things until we are.”

Hertl’s play at center last year when Couture was out gave DeBoer the necessary confidence to move the young Czech forward back to the pivot spot.

 “Hertl can play anywhere, his game is at that point. He’s a good enough player now that, not only can he play anywhere, I think he can make other people better around him.”

The Sharks currently sit tied with Anaheim for third in the Pacific Division but have a minus-four goal differential and have tallied just 14 markers on the season. Whether DeBoer’s changes pay off for the Sharks remains to be seen but it’s evident some form of shakeup was needed in San Jose.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:

  • The Vancouver Canucks have announced via their team website that they have recalled forward Jayson Megna and defenseman Troy Stecher from Utica of the AHL. Furthermore, according to Jon Abbott who covers the Canucks for TSN1040, Megna is slated to play on the fourth line tonight against Ottawa. Stecher is set to make his NHL debut tonight and will skate with Alex Edler, with whom he partnered during preseason action, again per Abbott. Megna appeared in six games for the New York Rangers in 2015-16, netting a single goal and two points for the Blueshirts. Stecher signed with Vancouver as an undrafted free agent following three seasons playing for the University of North Dakota. The two draw into the lineup due to the continued absences of Derek Dorsett, Alexandre Burrows and Chris Tanev.
  • The Arizona Coyotes will receive a welcome boost tonight as offseason free agent addition Jamie McGinn is set to make his 2016-17 season debut, as Coyotes Senior Director of News Content Dave Vest writes. McGinn missed the team’s first five games due to an upper-body-injury. Head coach Dave Tippett says the veteran wing will have to quickly readjust to the speed and pace of the game:  “He’s going to have to get up and going. At least he had exhibition games (and) played well in the exhibition games. He’s been off for a couple weeks now. The pace has gone up. He’ll have to get into the pace of the game, but he’s a good veteran guy. He’s hard around the front of the net. Hopefully he brings us a little veteran presence we need right now.” Vest also notes that goalie Justin Peters is slated to make his first start of the 2016-17 campaign between the pipes tonight for the Coyotes. The 30-year-old Peters, who has 67 NHL starts on his resume, appeared in a relief role for the Coyotes last Thursday and stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced. Peters has assumed the backup role in Arizona behind Louis Domingue following the lower-body-injury to Mike Smith.

 

Snapshots: Blues, Hertl, Moses

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock may be heading into his final season behind an NHL bench but he’s certainly not being complacent, writes Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Hitchcock along with coach-in-waiting Mike Yeo and the rest of the coaching staff have put the finishing touches on their new system in advance of training camp later this month.  In particular, the team is changing the way it plays in its own end, something that should keep both the players and the coaching staff on their toes; Hitchcock added his thoughts about the decision to change:

“For a coach, when you’re secure in the way you play and then all of a sudden you’re going to make changes, it’s pretty dramatic. Coaches don’t view offensive changes as dramatic, but when you’re changing things defensively most coaches view that as pretty dramatic.”

With their plans in place, the coaches are now in the process of presenting it to their leadership core, including new captain Alex Pietrangelo.  Assuming the players are all on board with the changes, then the new system will be unveiled to the rest of the team in training camp.  While it may seem odd to seek approval from the players on the system, Hitchcock added that “There’s no point in putting it together if the players don’t buy into it”.

More from around the league:

  • While Sharks forward Tomas Hertl won’t play at the World Cup, he doesn’t appear likely to miss any NHL action. In a statement from GM Doug Wilson (courtesy of CSN Bay Area’s Kevin Kurz), he noted that Hertl is on track to be ready to start the year and doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.  Wilson also praised Hertl for choosing “to put his commitment to the Sharks and his teammates first”.
  • While his most recent return to North America didn’t go well, left winger Steve Moses hasn’t ruled out giving the NHL another shot down the road, writes Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe. Moses signed a one year, $1MM deal with Nashville last year but didn’t make the team out of camp and was assigned to their AHL affiliate.  After 16 games with that team, his deal was terminated and he returned to the KHL where he remains under contract through 2017-18.  He has flirted with the point-per-game mark in each of his last two years in Russia and if he keeps that up, he should stay on the NHL radar.  However, Moses acknowledges that it will take a richer contract for him to try again as he is making more than the $1MM he was set to earn last season.

Radko Gudas, Tomas Hertl To Miss World Cup

at CDT | by 3 Comments

The injuries keep piling up for the Czech Republic in advance of the World Cup of Hockey as both Philadelphia defenseman Radko Gudas and San Jose forward Tomas Hertl will not play as first reported by hokej.cz’s Vaclav Jachin (link in Czech).  Gudas is dealing with a wrist injury while Hertl still hasn’t recovered from the knee injury that forced him out of the lineup in the Stanley Cup Final back in June.

Gudas is coming off a strong first season with the Flyers where he provided the team with some grit on the back end.  He played in 76 games, collecting 14 points while adding 116 PIMS, 304 hits, and 157 blocked shots.  He also played in six postseason contests, being held pointless but he managed to average five hits per game.  The 26 year old was rewarded with a four year extension this offseason with a cap hit of $3.35MM.

Philadelphia GM Ron Hextall released the following statement on the Flyers website about the injury:

“Radko Gudas sustained an upper body injury during his offseason training and will be evaluated on a week to week basis. We are hopeful and optimistic that he will not miss any regular season games.”

As for Hertl, he’s coming off the best season of his three year career, recording 21 goals and 25 assists in 81 regular season games for the Sharks.  He continued his strong play in the postseason, picking up another 11 points in 20 games to give San Jose some secondary scoring.  He inked a two year, $6MM bridge deal back in June.

No replacements have been named at this time.  For now, it’s likely that Roman Cervenka, who has added to replace David Krejci yesterday, will move into a regular role with the Czech squad.

[Related: Updated Czech World Cup Roster]

San Jose Signs Tomas Hertl To Two-Year Deal

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

According to Bob McKenzie of TSN, the San Jose Sharks have come to terms with pending RFA Tomas Hertl.  He’ll receive a bridge deal worth $6MM total for the next two seasons. Pierre LeBrun, also of TSN, adds that Hertl will receive $2.8MM in 2016-17 and $3.2MM in 2017-18.  The Sharks have almost no long-term deals up front, and this will allow them to stay flexible in the future.

Hertl has been an excellent performer for the Sharks through his first three seasons, racking up 102 points in 200 games. Last season he set career highs in goals (21), assists (25), plus/minus(+16), blocked shots (60) and at least partially moved back to his natural center ice position.

Going forward the 22-year old will continue to build towards becoming a legitimate top-line player for San Jose, as they prepare for life after Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau.  The two long-time Sharks (and potential Hall of Famers) are both headed into their final season under contract and are both 36 years old. Hertl represents the next wave of Shark and will try to seamlessly continue their regular season dominance, and perhaps change their (until recently) lackluster playoff performances.

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

scroll to top