Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Sharks Rumors

Sharks Notes: Rentals, Sturm, Kostin, Rutta, Dellandrea, Granlund

at CDT | by 3 Comments

The Sharks are expected to once again be sellers in advance of March 7th’s trade deadline with the team well out of the playoff picture.  This is around the time of year where teams will often start talking about extensions with players they want to keep.  That doesn’t appear to be the case at the moment for San Jose as GM Mike Grier told reporters including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News that while he has a sense of what his pending free agents are looking for, there haven’t been any negotiations with them and is unsure if there will be any before the deadline.

Their UFA crop includes veteran centers Mikael Granlund and Nico Sturm, winger Luke Kunin, plus defensemen Cody Ceci and Jan Rutta.  If they are going to try to move them, they won’t be able to retain any salary, however, as their three retention slots have already been used.  However, Grier indicated that he’s not too worried about that as he feels interested teams will either have or be able to open up the cap room to add any of those players to the point where retention wouldn’t necessarily have been needed.

More from San Jose:

  • It looks as if there won’t be much help on the horizon on the injury front. Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now notes (Twitter link) that Sturm, winger Klim Kostin, and Rutta are all unlikely to play until after the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.  Speculatively, getting those players into some game action will be needed if they have any hopes of moving them before the deadline.  They should, however, get center Ty Dellandrea back sooner.  Peng mentions that Dellandrea skated today as he works his way back from an upper-body injury that landed him on IR last week.
  • Granlund missed practice today due to illness, relays Max Miller of The Hockey News (Twitter link). He’ll accompany the team on their trip to Seattle but isn’t a lock to suit up.  After putting up 60 points in 69 games last season, Granlund is scoring at a similar clip this year with 44 points in 51 games, leading the team in assists and points.

Sharks Reassign Scott Sabourin, Vítek Vaněček

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Sharks reassigned winger Scott Sabourin to AHL San Jose on Wednesday, per a team announcement. They also sent goaltender Vítek Vaněček, who hasn’t played since mid-December due to a cheekbone fracture, to the minors on a conditioning loan, signaling he’s close to a return. Only Sabourin comes off the active roster with those moves – Vaněček remains on injured reserve – so San Jose is left with one open spot.

Sabourin received his first recall of the season last Friday when the Sharks made a flurry of roster moves, including promoting Colin White from his AHL deal. The 32-year-old enforcer got into game action the following day but struggled with a minus-two rating against the Panthers in 10:27 of ice time. Comprising a fourth line with Barclay Goodrow and recent waiver pickup Walker Duehr, the Sharks were out-attempted 14-3 with Sabourin on the ice.

It marked Sabourin’s fourth NHL game for the Sharks since signing a two-year, two-way deal in San Jose as a free agent in 2023. The veteran of 13 professional seasons posted career-highs with 18 goals and 192 PIMs in 59 AHL games last year, but he’s been limited to five goals and 14 points with 48 PIMs in 35 appearances in 2024-25.

The 6’4″, 207-lb cruiserweight made previous NHL stops with the Maple Leafs and Senators before arriving in the Bay Area. He’d also inked NHL contracts with the Ducks and Kings in the past but never got into NHL games for them.

Sabourin does not need waivers for today’s reassignment because he cleared them preseason and was only on the Sharks’ active roster for five days. His demotion could signal that one of the Sharks’ many other IR-bound players other than Vaněček could be close to returning, or it could indicate they plan on keeping three goalies on the active roster once Vaněček returns instead of sending top prospect Yaroslav Askarov back to the minors.

Sharks Recall Jack Thompson, Place Jan Rutta On IR

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The San Jose Sharks have recalled defenseman Jack Thompson and placed Jan Rutta on injured reserve. Rutta missed the team’s Saturday loss to the Florida Panthers with a lower-body injury. Head coach Ryan Wardofsky told Max Miller of Yahoo Sports that Rutta had been dealing with the injury for the last few games.

Rutta has seen his ice time dip from upwards of 19 minutes down to 13 minutes in the wake of this injury. He’s been a utility defender all season long, averaging 17 minutes of ice time and recording eight points through 51 games this season. Rutta also ranks second on the team with 76 blocked shots.

The Sharks turned towards left-shot defender Henry Thrun to fill Rutta’s right-side role on Saturday. But after a big loss, the Sharks are opting to bringing a true right-shot up in Thompson. Thompson has split time between the NHL and AHL lineup all year long, with similar results. He has five points in 14 NHL games and nine points in 17 AHL games on the year. After totaling just three NHL games over the last two seasons, Thompson is finally receiving a chance to carve out his role at the top-flight. With Rutta set to miss at least one week and two games, Thompson could have a perfect opportunity to plant his feet even further.

San Jose Sharks Sign Colin White

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Jan. 25: According to a team announcement, the Sharks have officially signed White to a one-year, two-way contract.

Jan. 24: The Sharks are signing unrestricted free agent center Colin White to a contract for the remainder of the season, Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News reports Friday. He’s been in the organization since August when he signed a one-year deal with AHL San Jose.

It’s unclear if the deal will be registered before tomorrow’s game against the Panthers, but Pashelka said White was on the ice at practice with his new NHL teammates today. His signing is part of a larger group of roster moves the Sharks made Friday, which also included reassigning rookie forward Collin Graf to the AHL, recalling veteran enforcer Scott Sabourin, and moving forward Ty Dellandrea to injured reserve. The Sharks will have a full active roster when all the moves are executed.

White, 27, has battled injuries with the Barracuda this season but has managed five goals and 10 points with a minus-three rating in 20 games when healthy. The 2015 first-rounder had to settle for a minor-league contract last summer after going pointless in 28 games, split between the Penguins and Canadiens.

The Boston native once looked to be a promising top-nine piece with the Senators. He posted 14 goals and 27 assists for 41 points in 74 games in his first entire NHL season back in 2018-19, but he never topped those numbers. Injuries began to pile up over the next few seasons before a dislocated shoulder cost him over half of the 2021-22 campaign. He was limited to 10 points in 24 games when healthy that year, leading the Sens to buy him out halfway through the six-year, $28.5MM deal they gave him as an RFA following his breakout year.

White landed with the Panthers after the buyout, posting 15 points in 68 games in a fourth-line role and playing in all 21 playoff games as they lost to the Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final. It wasn’t enough to convince Florida to retain him, though, and they did not tender him a qualifying offer at the end of the season. He needed to wait until September until the Penguins extended him a tryout offer, which yielded a two-way deal and his first extended AHL action in six years.

The 6’1″ pivot will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, and he’ll need to clear waivers if the Sharks attempt to send him back to the AHL.

Returning to the minors to make room for the veteran recalls is Graf. San Jose signed the 22-year-old as an undrafted free agent out of Quinnipiac last summer after he was named the ECAC’s Player of the Year and a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award thanks to his 22 goals and 49 points in 34 games.

Graf got off on the right foot in the pros, posting 26 points through 29 AHL games to start 2024-25 before earning an NHL recall on New Year’s Eve. He’s remained on the Sharks’ roster since then but was a healthy scratch in last night’s loss to the Predators after posting two assists with a minus-four rating in 10 appearances.

Graf averaged 14:17 per game during his recall, recording seven blocks and 10 hits. The 6’1″ winger looked overmatched at times, posting a team-worst 38.6 CF% at even strength among skaters with at least 10 games played.

Sabourin, 32, is in his second season with the Sharks organization. The 6’4″ heavyweight winger has 46 NHL games to his name, three of which came with San Jose last season during a January call-up.

Since signing a two-year, two-way deal with the Sharks as a free agent in 2023, Sabourin has 23 goals and 17 assists for 40 points with 240 PIMs in 94 AHL appearances. He hasn’t logged significant NHL ice time since appearing in a career-high 35 games as a 27-year-old rookie with the Senators in 2019-20.

Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Dellandrea left last night’s loss to the Preds with an upper-body injury and didn’t return. It’s unclear if this injury is related to the UBI that held him out for four games in October and November, but regardless, he’s now been ruled out of the team’s next three games. The 2018 first-rounder hasn’t been a good fit in the Bay Area after they acquired his signing rights from the Stars over the offseason, limited to one goal and four assists with a -15 rating in 41 appearances.

Sharks Claim Walker Duehr Off Waivers From Flames

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Jan. 22: The Sharks plucked Duehr off the wire from the Flames on Wednesday, Friedman reports. He’ll provide a likely temporary bottom-six presence for San Jose with Tyler Toffoli, Nico Sturm and Klim Kostin currently sidelined with injuries. The Sharks don’t have an open roster spot, however, and will need to make a corresponding transaction. Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News reports that move will be placing Sturm, who missed Tuesday’s loss to the Predators with a lower-body injury, on IR.

Jan. 21: The Flames placed winger Walker Duehr on waivers Tuesday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He’ll presumably head to AHL Calgary if he clears.

Duehr, 27, hits the wire for the second time this season. After making the opening night roster last season, he failed to do so in 2024-25 and cleared without incident near the end of training camp.

The 6’3″, 205-lb righty responded by notching 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points through 20 AHL games. That earned him a recall back to the Flames in early December as they needed a replacement for Justin Kirkland, who underwent season-ending ACL surgery.

Duehr appeared in 10 consecutive games for the Flames to begin his call-up, which was interrupted on a few occasions by paper transactions to extend his temporary waiver exemption. The number of days he’d spent on the roster no longer mattered once he played his 10th game, though.

Since that run of 10 straight, he’s been scratched four times in the Flames’ last 10. On the whole, the South Dakota native only contributed one assist with a minus-six rating.

Given Duehr’s underwhelming offensive performance, limited ice time and his team-worst -12.2 relative CF% at even strength, today’s demotion is unsurprising. The South Dakota native has nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points in 84 games with Calgary since signing as an undrafted free agent out of Minnesota State in 2021.

A pending unrestricted free agent, the Flames may have an interest in keeping Duehr around on a two-way extension, considering his strong AHL production. However, given his poor NHL showing over the past few weeks, the chances of him replicating a one-way deal like he’s had for the past two seasons are slim.

Duehr’s bottom-six spot looks to go to recent call-up Rory Kerins, who’s earned his keep with four assists through his first four NHL games. Kerins, 22, was added back to the roster today after being sent down over the weekend to bank cap space, Ryan Pike of Flames Nation reports.

Ducks, Sharks Swap Justin Bailey, Pavol Regenda

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Ducks and Sharks exchanged minor-league forwards in a trade Wednesday, per announcements from both clubs. Pavol Regenda is heading north from Anaheim to San Jose, while veteran journeyman winger Justin Bailey is heading from the Bay Area to SoCal.

Bailey, 29, is in his 10th season of professional hockey. A second-round pick by the Sabres in 2013, the hulking 6’4″, 212-lb winger primarily suited up for their AHL affiliate in Rochester but did manage 52 NHL appearances for the club before they traded him to the Flyers in 2019 for winger Taylor Leier.

His tenure in the Philadelphia organization was short-lived, spending the back half of the 2018-19 campaign bouncing between the NHL and AHL before they opted not to issue him a qualifying offer at the end of the season. An unrestricted free agent for the first time, Bailey latched on with the Canucks on a two-way deal, where he’d spend three seasons as a call-up option and taxi squad mainstay during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After making a one-year stop in the Oilers organization in 2022-23 that didn’t result in any NHL time, Bailey landed with the Sharks for 2023-24 – first on an AHL contract, but that was torn up and replaced with a two-way deal a few weeks into the season. He quickly established a spot on a thin San Jose offense, turning himself into a full-time NHLer for the first time, even if just for a few months.

Bailey appeared in a career-high 59 games for the Sharks last year, recording five goals and nine assists for 14 points and a -15 rating. He averaged 11:17 per game and ranked eighth on the team with 76 hits.

Understandably, Bailey opted to ink a two-way extension to keep him in the San Jose organization for 2024-25. Also understandably, after the Sharks added multiple veterans in free agency and saw prospects Macklin Celebrini and William Smith make the jump to the NHL, there was no longer a spot for Bailey on the NHL roster.

The Buffalo native landed on waivers and cleared them in the middle of training camp. But after a lengthy history of top-six production in the minors, Bailey has struggled to the tune of seven goals and seven assists for 14 points through 33 AHL games with a minus-six rating. He’s tracking for his worst season in terms of AHL points per game in his career while playing on a San Jose squad having its best season in six years.

The Sharks evidently wanted a bit of an offensive jumpstart for their farm club, while the Ducks wanted a more veteran presence. They certainly land that for San Diego in Bailey but part ways with Regenda, a similarly-sized power forward who Anaheim signed as an undrafted free agent out of Slovakia in 2022.

The 25-year-old Regenda has a goal and two assists for three points in 19 NHL games with the Ducks, none of which have come in 2024-25. He’s been limited to four goals and 16 points in 36 games with AHL San Diego this season, down from his career-best 34 points in 54 games last season.

Both players will report directly to their new farm clubs without incident. Bailey will be a UFA at the end of the season, while Regenda will be a Group VI UFA since he’s logged three professional seasons without recording 80 NHL games.

Sharks’ Nikolai Kovalenko To Return, Henry Thrun Questionable

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The San Jose Sharks will have to shake up their lineup a bit in tonight’s matchup against the Nashville Predators. Forward Nikolai Kovalenko is expected to return from injury, while defenseman Henry Thrun is questionable to play due to a lower-body injury (per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now). Peng adds that if Thrun is unavailable, veteran Marc-Edouard Vlasic will step back into the lineup. Vlasic was held out of San Jose’s Monday night game due to illness.

With this news, Kovalenko will return to the lineup after missing San Jose’s last six games with an upper-body injury. The Russian rookie has been an interesting addition for the Sharks, who acquired him in the December trade that sent goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to the Colorado Avalanche. Kovalenko has recorded six points, five blocked shots, 26 hits, and no penalties in 12 games with the Sharks since the move, bringing his season totals up to 14 points in 40 games. He’s managed those totals while serving in a third-line role, with limited special teams use. That depth assignment should make reincorporating Kovalenko a seamless process. He’s expected to step in for Carl Grundström, who only has one point in his last 15 games.

Thrun played yesterday against Boston, logging 15:51 of ice time in the Sharks 6-3 loss. The 23-year-old has eight assists in 40 games this year and has posted 33 hits and 44 blocked shots while averaging 16:56 of ice time per game. The Southborough, Massachusetts native signed a two-year $2MM extension with the Sharks last July and has been a regular for most of the season, other than a handful of healthy scratches.

PHR’s Josh Cybulski contributed to this article.

San Jose Sharks Activate Nikolai Kovalenko

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Before today’s matinee matchup between the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins, the former activated a middle-six forward from their injured reserve. The Sharks announced they’ve activated Nikolai Kovalenko although he didn’t factor into today’s matchup.

An upper-body injury has kept Kovalenko out of game action for approximately the last two weeks. Still, it’s not confirmed whether or not that was the reason behind his absence this afternoon.

Kovalenko has played decently well with the Sharks since being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in early December. He tallied five assists in his first four games averaging 12:21 of ice time per game but has depressed to only one goal over his last eight contests.

Thankfully he’s not in unfamiliar territory on a young San Jose roster. There are plenty of younger players struggling to transition to the grind of NHL hockey, and although Kovalenko is already 25 years old, he still has a lot of value as a forward prospect.

He’s only one year removed from an impressive back-to-back effort with the KHL’s Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. Although the Gagarin Cup eluded him during his two years with the Torpedo, he scored 32 goals and 89 points in 98 games with another three goals and 11 points in 15 postseason contests.

The recent run of success in the KHL should alleviate any concerns about his point production for the time being. Regardless, given the Sharks’ position in their rebuild, they can afford to take chances of diamond-hunting in the rough.

Nico Sturm Expecting To Be Traded By San Jose Before Deadline

at CDT | by 6 Comments

In a recent interview with Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, San Jose Sharks’ centerman Nico Sturm spoke candidly about his future with the organization. Sturm made it clear that if the Sharks do not offer him a contract extension in the coming weeks, he expects to be on another team’s roster by the trade deadline.

If his ice time this season is any indication, the Sharks aren’t expected to offer Sturm an extension anytime soon. Sturm scored 19 goals and 39 points in 137 games averaging 14:42 of ice time with San Jose throughout the first two years of the three-year, $6MM pact he signed with the team in the summer of 2022. He became a valuable fourth-line center who consistently won faceoffs and was a focal piece of an eighth-ranked penalty kill during his first year with the club.

Due to his removal from the penalty kill this season, Sturm’s average time on ice has plummeted to only 9:49 per game which is the lowest of his career by a large margin. The lack of ice time won’t impact Sturm’s leadership or professionalism as Pashelka quoted him saying, “I haven’t sulked about my ice time. I’ve done my job, and I’m going to continue to do that, and put my best foot forward, put my faith in my game, and hope that there’s going to be a team out there that wants me in the future, whether it’s here or somewhere else.”

Sturm isn’t a stranger to being a trade deadline rental having been acquired by the eventual 2022 Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. The veteran center still carries a lot of value in the faceoff dot and potentially on the penalty kill or a contending team given he’s currently leading the NHL in faceoff percentage (63.3%) of those that have taken more than 100 faceoffs.

Even if the Sharks could retain salary on the remaining $2MM of Sturm’s contract they shouldn’t expect anything more than a mid-round pick in return. According to MoneyPuck, the Minnesota Wild, Columbus Blue Jackets, Calgary Flames, and Avalanche are all contending teams this year near or at the bottom in team faceoff percentage. Given his efficiency in the dot, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see one of these teams acquire Sturm before March 7th.

San Jose Sharks Return Igor Chernyshov To OHL

at CDT | by 19 Comments

  • According to Curtis Pashelka of San Jose Hockey Now, an underrated forward prospect for the San Jose Sharks, Igor Chernyshov, is finally returning to the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit after a long way back from offseason shoulder surgery. Chernyshov, who was a fringe first-round prospect of the 2024 NHL Draft but was eventually selected with the first selection of the second round, is set to embark on his first year of hockey in North America after scoring 13 goals and 28 points in 22 games last year for the MHL’s MHK Dynamo Moskva.

    [SOURCE LINK]

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

scroll to top