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San Jose Sharks Reassign Oskar Lindblom

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The San Jose Sharks have reassigned forward Oskar Lindblom to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. In order to complete this reassignment, Lindblom was activated off of injured reserve, where he had been placed during his recovery from a lower-body injury.

Lindblom has been out of commission since a November 10th contest against the Vegas Golden Knights. The 27-year-old former 17-goal scorer has struggled since signing a $2.5MM AAV contract with the Sharks.

He spent all of last season in San Jose, skating in 73 NHL games for the club. Lindblom only managed to put together six goals and 15 points in that span, though, and entering 2023-24 his grip on a regular job in the Sharks’ forward corps was shaky.

He ultimately could not secure a regular role in head coach David Quinn’s lineup for 2023-24, and began the season in the minors. He’s now set to return to the Barracuda, who he scored two points in eight games with earlier this season. Lindblom does have some demonstrated production in the AHL level, as he scored 16 goals and 34 points in his last extended stint in the AHL.

If the 2020-21 Bill Masterton Trophy winner can manage to have that sort of season in 2023-24, that would certainly help the Barracuda. San Jose’s AHL affiliate are currently 27th in the AHL with an 8-11-4 record, and have not reached the postseason since 2020-21.

Nico Sturm Out Week-To-Week

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It had already been known that San Jose Sharks’ forward, Nico Sturm, wouldn’t be joining the team on their current road trip against the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche, and it appears he could miss a few more games as well. Max Miller of The Hockey News is reporting that Sturm will be out on a week-to-week basis with an undisclosed injury.

Already suffering from a serious lack of depth at the beginning of the season, Sturm now becomes the sixth current member of the Sharks to hit the injured reserve, even with forwards Filip Zadina and Alexander Barabanov recently returning from their injuries. Even with so many injuries over the past several weeks, San Jose holds a 6-3-1 record in their last 1o games, moving ahead of the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks in the league standings.

Nevertheless, the team should be able to effectively weather the hole left by Sturm, as he has not been a primary offensive factor for the team this season. Operating as a bottom-six forward for much of his career, Sturm has two goals and four points in 26 games for the Sharks this season, placing him 17th on the team in scoring.

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  • Another Western Conference team severely struggling with depth this season, the Blackhawks announced forward Joey Anderson would not return to the ice tonight as the team takes on the Vancouver Canucks. Much like the Sharks, Chicago has a total of five players currently on the injured reserve, most notably players such as Andreas Athanasiou, Seth Jones, and Taylor Hall.

Nico Sturm Will Not Travel With Team On Road Trip

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  • Injured in their most recent game against the Winnipeg Jets, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now reports that San Jose Sharks’ forward, Nico Sturm, will not travel with the team for their upcoming road trip. Thankfully, the road trip only consists of two games, before the Sharks return to the Bay Area next Tuesday. In 26 games so far this season, Sturm has recorded two goals and four points, tied for 17th on the team in scoring.

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San Jose Sharks Acquire Jack Studnicka

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Confirmation coming by way of the Vancouver Canucks, the San Jose Sharks will acquire forward Jack Studnicka in exchange for defenseman Nick Cicek, and a sixth-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft.

Acquired by the Canucks in October of last season, Studnicka was originally a member of the Boston Bruins, playing in a total of 38 games wearing the spoked ’B’. Last season in Vancouver, Studnicka played in a total of 47 games, scoring four goals and eight points overall.

Unfortunately for Studnicka, even after a solid showing at preseason camp, he became a victim of the glut of forwards in the Vancouver organization. With 13 players already on the roster, and a few above still above him in the organizational depth chart, Studnicka’s future with the team was entirely blocked.

Now in San Jose, even with a healthy roster, Studnicka should still have access to adequate playing time. However, with three forwards already on the team’s injured reserve, the Sharks now have even more of a need to round out their forward depth as we approach the dog days of the regular season.

Averaging just under 11 and a half minutes of ice time per game throughout his career, Studnicka should continue to average similar ice time in the Bay Area. Given the current makeup of San Jose’s roster, Studnicka should effectively replace either Justin Bailey or Givani Smith in the team’s bottom six of their forward core.

Going the other way to the Canucks, Cicek suited up in 16 games for the Sharks last season, notching four assists before November 30th. Although born in Winnipeg, Cicek spent his junior career playing for the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL, a little under a six-hour drive to Vancouver over the border.

Only playing for the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, this season, Cicek has suited up in 18 games, scoring one goal and three points. Given the Canucks’ current depth in their defensive core, it is likely that Cicek will suit up for their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.

Hoffman Could Be A Trade Candidate

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  • Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch suggests Sharks winger Mike Hoffman could be a name to keep an eye on when it comes to the trade front. After getting off to a slow start, the 34-year-old is up to eight goals in 28 games, just one off the team lead.  A pending UFA with a $4.5MM cap hit, the asking price for Hoffman likely won’t be very high but he could be a useful addition to a team looking to add a bit of firepower to their bottom six.

Sharks Issue Injury Updates On Matt Benning, Nico Sturm

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  • In yesterday’s interview, Rutherford also implied the team had not held extension discussions with pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Tyler Myers. The 33-year-old is Vancouver’s second-oldest defender behind offseason free agent signing Ian Cole and is in the final season of an oft-criticized five-year, $30MM contract carrying a $6MM cap hit signed in 2019 under the Benning regime. His name was featured in offseason trade discussions, namely a deal that almost sent him to the floundering Sharks for the Canucks to free up additional cap space. However, holding onto Myers may have benefitted the Canucks. His trade value has never been higher while with the team. He was paid a $5MM signing bonus at the beginning of the season and is due $1MM in actual salary during this campaign, making him a more palatable financial acquisition for teams. His on-ice stats have never been better as a Canuck. While his minutes have been reduced to under 19 minutes per game, he’s responded with two goals and 11 assists for 13 points in 29 contests, his best points-per-game rate in a full season since he tallied 37 in 80 games with the Sabres during his sophomore season in 2010-11. His two-way game is still an area of major concern, however, as his pairings with Cole and Carson Soucy have been the Canucks’ worst in terms of controlling possession quality this season.
  • Sharks defenseman Matt Benning is sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body injury, head coach David Quinn told reporters yesterday (via Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now). Benning last played on November 3 against the Rangers and was moved to injured reserve on Tuesday. Benning had ample opportunity to secure more arduous minutes on a thin Sharks blueline this season, but injuries have dogged him for much of the campaign. He missed ten games with an undisclosed injury in November and one with a lower-body injury in late October. It’s unclear if the injuries he suffered this season are related. The 29-year-old has two assists and a -5 rating in 14 games this season, averaging 18:29 per game.
  • Sticking with the Sharks, center Nico Sturm sustained what Quinn called a “mid-body injury” in Tuesday’s game against the Jets and is still being evaluated, Curtis Pashelka of the San Jose Mercury News relays. According to Pashelka, the team expects more information today and is preparing for him to miss enough time to be placed on IR. Sturm missed one game earlier this month with a lower-body injury and a pair of contests in late November for personal reasons. Now in his second season in the Bay Area, the 28-year-old German (who has no relation to longtime Sharks winger Marco Sturm) has two goals, two assists and a -10 rating in 26 games. If Sturm gets placed on IR today, depth forward Ryan Carpenter is ready to come off the injured list after missing four games with an undisclosed injury.

Morning Notes: Kuzmenko, Pinto, Couture

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The Vancouver Canucks could be looking to move high-scoring winger Andrei Kuzmenko, according to The Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta. Pagnotta shares that the team has discussed trading him but that, “nothing is close”, citing his $5.5MM cap hit and modified-no-trade-clause as pieces that make a trade challenging.

Kuzmenko is off to a slower start to the season after scoring an electric 39 goals and 74 points in 81 games last season. It was Kuzmenko’s first year in the NHL, with Vancouver signing him out of the KHL, where he had previously played 315 career games and scored 200 points. The 27-year-old winger is now sporting just five goals and 16 points through 26 games this season, on pace for just 50 points in 82 games. Pagnotta shares that Vancouver could be looking for a talent-for-talent swap, attempting to bring in a new face to replace Kuzmenko’s role in the top-six. The left-winger has averaged roughly 16 minutes of ice time through his 107 career NHL games so far.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Shane Pinto is expected to resume training with the Ottawa Senators’ skills coaches soon, after doing much of his training at various colleges while serving his 41-game suspension. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch shared expects the forward to sign his qualifying offer, which would give Pinto a cap hit of $874K. Pinto is eligible to resume playing for either the Ottawa Senators or Belleville Senators on January 21st.
  • Logan Couture spoke with media for the first time in two months on Tuesday, shedding light on the lower-body injury that’s so far held him out of the season. Couture, 34, candidly shared that he had feared the injury could end his career, but that those fears are behind him after he began rehabbing the injury. He is now expecting to return soon, but the Sharks captain didn’t have a timeline yet, calling himself, “truly week-to-week”. Couture has spent his entire career with the San Jose Sharks, totaling 700 points in 927 games with the club.

Luke Kunin Activated From IR

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Being out of the lineup for a little over a week with an upper-body injury, the San Jose Sharks announced the team has officially activated forward Luke Kunin from the injured reserve, although he will not play in the team’s game tonight.

After a disastrous start to the season, the Sharks have rebounded well over their last several games, producing a 5-2-1 record over their last eight games, now tied for last place in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks. Unfortunately, due to the injury, Kunin has not been able to factor into San Jose’s good stretch of late, having not played since the team’s loss against the Boston Bruins on November 30th.

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Matt Benning Placed On Injured Reserve

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Placing defenseman Dmitri Samorukov on waivers yesterday, after he cleared today, the Pittsburgh Penguins have assigned him to their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and have subsequently activated Pierre-Olivier Joseph off of the injured reserve. Being placed on the injured reserve with an undisclosed injury dating back to November 18th, Joseph has not played in a game since the team’s route against the San Jose Sharks on November 4th.

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  • The San Jose Sharks announced today they have placed defenseman Matt Benning on the injured reserve. Dealing with a lower-body injury, Benning has been out of the lineup since the team’s game against the New York Rangers on December 3rd. Already starting the season with limited depth as an organization, Benning joins a growing list of Sharks on the injured reserve, making him the sixth player overall currently.

Sharks Reassign Henry Thrun

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Dec. 11: The Sharks reassigned Thrun to AHL San Jose on Monday, Curtis Pashelka of The San Jose Mercury News reports. Thrun logged a -1 rating, two penalty minutes and two shots on goal in 16:16 of ice time against the Golden Knights in last night’s shootout loss.

Dec. 9: One of San Jose’s top defensive prospects is set to get another look at the NHL level as the Sharks announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled blueliner Henry Thrun from AHL San Jose.

The 22-year-old was originally drafted by Anaheim but after he indicated to them that he wouldn’t sign with them, the Ducks then turned around and traded Thrun’s rights to San Jose.  He quickly signed with his season at Harvard having ended and got into eight games down the stretch where he didn’t look out of place, notching two assists while logging just shy of 20 minutes a night.

That gave Thrun seemingly an inside edge on a roster spot going into training camp and while he did open up the season with the Sharks, it was short-lived as he was sent down a week into the season despite picking up a pair of assists in his two appearances.  Since then, he has been with the Barracuda where he has played in 18 games, collecting a goal with five helpers.

With the recall, San Jose now has a full 23-player roster.  Notably, nine of those are blueliners although Jacob MacDonald has been lining up as a winger more recently.  Even so, Thrun might have to bide his time before getting back into the Sharks lineup.

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