Sharks Expected To Sign Mackenzie Blackwood
Some eyebrows were raised yesterday the Sharks opted to non-tender goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood just days after trading for him. However, in the end, he will be suiting up in San Jose as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports (Twitter link) that Blackwood will be signing a two-year deal with San Jose. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link) that the contract is expected to carry a $2.35MM AAV.
As has been the case with several players that have re-signed already today, the Sharks didn’t want to run the risk of Blackwood filing for salary arbitration and going to a hearing. As a result, they opted to not tender him the $3.36MM qualifying offer and are now getting him for an amount that’s considerably lower.
Things have not gone well for Blackwood in recent seasons as he has consistently battled injury issues and has battled inconsistency when he has been in the lineup. He has started just 79 games in the three seasons, posting just a .897 SV% and a 3.19 GAA. Last season, he wound up losing his backup spot to Akira Schmid late in the year and wasn’t dressing for their playoff games, a clear sign that he wouldn’t be back for 2023-24.
Blackwood will now form a tandem with returning netminder Kaapo Kahkonen, a duo that will be among the cheaper duos in the NHL with a combined cap hit of just $5.25MM. It will also be one of the younger duos as both goalies are just 26. For a San Jose team that doesn’t have a true goalie of the future in the system, this coming season should serve as a tryout for both of them to prove that they’re worthy of a long-term look with the Sharks or elsewhere. It’s a tandem with some upside if both play to their perceived potential but if recent struggles repeat themselves, it could be a tough year for an already rebuilding San Jose franchise.
Sharks And Canucks Have Discussed Tyler Myers Trade
There has been an expectation for a while now that the Canucks will look to move the final year and $6MM that Tyler Myers has remaining on his contract in an effort to free up some cap space this summer. In a recent appearance on Sportsnet 650 (audio link), Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported that the Sharks are a team that’s believed to have discussed a Myers trade with Vancouver to the point that there has been a deal on the table for several weeks now.
It’s worth noting that Myers has a $5MM signing bonus that is payable in the new league year. For many players, the payment date for those bonuses is July 1st. However, Myers is one of the exceptions with his bonus believed to be payable in mid-September. With that in mind, it’s possible that this could be the hold-up in a swap although Seravalli suggested that this isn’t necessarily the case.
The 33-year-old looked to be a two-way threat when he first came to the NHL with his best two offensive seasons coming during his first two years with Buffalo. However, he has become more of a defense-only player, especially in recent years as he has managed just a single goal in each of the last two years with Vancouver.
However, he has logged more than 20 minutes per game throughout his career and while he may be better suited for a lower role at this point, the fact he can still cover tough minutes might be appealing to a team like San Jose which isn’t exactly loaded with proven blueliners and is trying to move their top one in Erik Karlsson. In-season, he’ll have a prorated salary of just $1MM which could only help from a trade value perspective.
Considering what the market has been for teams looking to dump salary, Vancouver shouldn’t be expecting much of a return, if any, to clear Myers off the books. But if they do have a viable option on the table to take on the contract, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them take it, either now or even if they have to wait until closer to training camp when the bonus is paid off. If a deal is either done or agreed on in principle, Vancouver could be a team to watch for when the market opens up less than 24 hours from now.
Sharks Still Negotiating With Mackenzie Blackwood
In a somewhat surprising move, the San Jose Sharks opted not to qualify goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood today, just days after acquiring his rights from the New Jersey Devils for a 2024 sixth-round pick. According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Sharks and Blackwood were not close in their brief contract discussion prior to today’s qualifying deadline. Discussions between the two parties remain ongoing, but the 26-year-old netminder could absolutely land with another NHL team after the market opens Saturday.
The Devils moved on from Blackwood with better options available internally. He was due a rather rich qualifying offer of $3.36MM, a number he won’t come close to on the open market after his performance last season. The Sharks would surely like to keep him – after all, they do have a vacant spot in their goalie tandem with James Reimer not returning – but it doesn’t seem they’re prepared to pay over market value to keep him around and would rather have just thrown away the draft pick.
San Jose Sharks Extend Jacob Peterson
The San Jose Sharks announced that they have signed trade-deadline acquisition, Jacob Peterson, to a one-year, two-way contract extension. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but one could assume it will be for the league minimum at $775K at the NHL level.
Before arriving in San Jose, Peterson had spent the entirety of his career with the Dallas Stars organization, until he was traded at last year’s deadline to the Sharks for Scott Reedy in a minor-league swap. So far in his young career, Peterson has recorded 77 games played at the NHL level, scoring 14 goals and 11 assists split between Dallas and San Jose. Primarily playing in the AHL for the Texas Stars, Peterson scored 13 goals and 13 assists in 44 games before his move to the Sharks organization.
In only eight games played for the San Jose Barracuda, Peterson got off to a scorching start with the team, scoring one goal and five assists. Once recalled via an emergency loan in late March, Peterson finished off the season with the Sharks. Currently, San Jose is in the midst of a rebuild, so it would be unsurprising to see Peterson spend the majority of his time at the NHL level next year.
Markus Nutivaara To Retire
According to Yle Urheilu’s Tommi Seppala, San Jose Sharks defenseman Markus Nutivaara is calling it a career due to a hip injury. That injury cost Nutivaara his 2022-23 season, meaning he only suited up for preseason games as a member of the San Jose Sharks.
Nutivaara signed a one-year, $1.5MM deal with the Sharks after a 2021-22 season where injuries again limited him severely, this time to only one regular-season game with the Florida Panthers. Nutivaara isn’t even 30, meaning these accumulated injuries have caused him to retire likely far earlier than he otherwise would have.
Although it’s undoubtedly quite a disappointment to see his career end prematurely due to injuries, Nutivaara can definitely look back on his playing career with pride.
The Oulu, Finland native worked his way up the junior ranks in his home country before breaking into Liiga, Finland’s top league, in 2014-15. He won a Liiga title with Karpat that year and was drafted 189th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Nutivaara spent one more year with Karpat before heading to North America, where he would make it as a full-time NHLer as a rookie. He got into 66 games for Columbus and played over 13 minutes a night as a 22-year-old blueliner.
He would go on two play two more seasons as a regular for Columbus, peaking in 2018-19 when he averaged nearly 18 minutes of time on ice per night and scored 21 points. He was on the Blue Jackets team that achieved a historic upset series sweep over the at-the-time record-setting Tampa Bay Lightning.
While the injuries dragged down Nutivaara’s career after that point, he concludes his time as a player having proven himself in the world’s toughest league and achieved championship glory in the top league in his home country.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Latest On Sharks Centers
The San Jose Sharks just drafted a potential first-line center with the fourth overall pick with Will Smith, and at the draft in Nashville, there are some rumors that the team’s current top-six centers could be on the move. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports that “teams have talked to” the Sharks about Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture.
Nashville Predators Trying To Acquire Top Five Pick
This is a huge night for the Nashville Predators franchise, hosting the 2023 NHL Draft – the first under the leadership of new general manager and franchise coaching legend Barry Trotz. Over the past few hours, it’s become clear Trotz is looking to make an earth-shattering move on the draft floor tonight to move up in the first round.
Multiple reports suggest the Predators have called the Montreal Canadiens about trading up to fifth overall, and Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli now reports Nashville’s put goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov into play. The Russian netminder, who was the 11th overall pick in the 2020 draft, is one of the best netminder prospects in the world and posted a .911 save percentage in 48 games with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals this season.
Askarov would make tremendous amounts of sense for the two teams Nashville’s called about in the top five – Montreal and the San Jose Sharks, who Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic says are getting multiple calls about their fourth overall selection. Both teams have a decent pool of goalie prospects but no surefire starter in their future.
It’ll take much more than Askarov to get either of those teams to part with their picks, though. Nashville holds the 15th and 24th overall selections tonight, with the latter acquired from the Edmonton Oilers for Mattias Ekholm. It’ll take at least Askarov plus the 15th pick, potentially a tad more given the game-breaking, franchise-changing talent available with each of the first five picks in this draft.
With Trotz’s public posturing of wanting high-upside, skilled players in Nashville’s prospect pool, it’s fair to wonder if Nashville is targeting Matvei Michkov if they do move up. While there are some concerns about his defensive engagement (depending on who you ask) and obvious off-ice questions given his contract status and geopolitical uncertainty, he’s the highest-upside prospect in this draft not named Connor Bedard.
San Jose Sharks Re-Sign Eetu Makiniemi
The San Jose Sharks have re-signed 24-year-old netminder Eetu Makiniemi to a one-year, two-way contract, per PuckPedia. The deal will carry a $775K NHL cap hit and includes $145K in guaranteed salary.
Makiniemi was a pending restricted free agent. The one-year extension comes in below his qualifying offer of $840K.
Choosing to keep Makiniemi in the organization is an expected decision after the Finnish goalie made his NHL debut this season, posting a .906 save percentage across two appearances. Acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes in the Brent Burns trade last offseason, Makiniemi unfortunately didn’t get to finish out the season with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda after sustaining a labrum tear. He’s expected to be healthy for training camp.
After San Jose acquired Mackenzie Blackwood, Makiniemi is slated for the starting role with the AHL Barracuda, assuming the team holds onto Kaapo Kahkonen at the NHL level too. In 22 appearances last season, Makiniemi led the team with a .900 save percentage and 2.96 goals against average, holding his own behind a squad that struggled defensively.
At 24, the 2017 fourth-round pick still has some room to grow and could viably be a long-term backup option for the Sharks someday, should he continue on his development path.
Anaheim Ducks Acquire Andrew Agozzino
The Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks have completed a swap of minor-league players. Anaheim is acquiring veteran forward Andrew Agozzino from San Jose in exchange for the negotiating rights to veteran defenseman Andrej Sustr, who is set to hit the unrestricted free-agent market on July 1st.
Sharks assistant general manager Joe Will issued the following statement regarding the transaction:
Andrew requested a trade after the season, citing personal reasons, and we wanted to facilitate his request. We thank Andrew for everything he did with the organization last year and we wish him the best of luck moving forward.”
In trading Agozzino, 32, the Sharks have dealt the captain of their AHL affiliate and a player who is under contract through next season at a $775k cap hit. An undrafted player, Agozzino has long been a quality scorer at the junior and AHL level, ever since his days with the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs.
He’s a three-time AHL All-Star who led the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda in scoring with 26 goals and 61 points in 63 games. In 664 career AHL games Agozzino has 516 points, and he’s worn a letter at pretty much every stop of his AHL career.
At the NHL level Agozzino has struggled to stick on a roster for an extended period, and he has just 12 points in 51 career games. He did manage to contribute three points in four NHL games this past year with the Sharks, but despite his impressive AHL form the Sharks gave him his first call-up in late March. Agozzino is likely hopeful he’ll get an increased NHL opportunity in Anaheim.
Ducks GM Pat Verbeek has looked to overhaul his AHL affiliate this offseason, and he started in April when he hired a new head coach. Now, he’s added a valued leader and potential top scorer to his farm team.
For the Sharks, the motivation behind this deal seems to be largely an effort to do right by a veteran player who had a strong season with their affiliate. There’s no word on whether the Sharks plan on signing the six-foot-seven Sustr, though the 32-year-old does bring a valuable 361 games of NHL experience.
Players and agents across the league take notice of trades like this, when a team goes out of its way to help a player. By trading Agozzino to a potentially more favorable opportunity they’ve done exactly that. It’s possible the true value in this trade for the Sharks lies there.
San Jose Sharks Expected To Acquire Mackenzie Blackwood
The San Jose Sharks have reportedly acquired goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood from the New Jersey Devils, per Kevin Weekes of ESPN. The Sharks are sending a sixth-round pick in an undisclosed year to the Devils for the netminder, which checks an item off the Devils’ long offseason checklist.
Once a highly-regarded up-and-comer, things have gone spectacularly off the rails for Blackwood in recent seasons, mainly due to injury troubles. Selected 42nd overall in 2015, Blackwood posted a 22-14-8 record in 43 starts during his rookie season in 2019-20 and finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting. He’s started just 79 games in the three seasons since then, achieving just a .897 save percentage and a 33-33-10 record. For a team looking to contend for the Cup next season, it’s simply not good enough – especially for the $3.36MM qualifying offer he was due as a pending restricted free agent.
The Sharks, who are in desperate need of a netminder, get their fix with another reclamation project. They’ll have no issue accommodating whatever they’ll end up signing Blackwood to, entering the offseason with over $14MM in projected cap space (CapFriendly).
For now, he’ll form a tandem in the Bay Area with Kaapo Kahkonen, who’s under contract at a $2.75MM cap hit in 2023-24 and posted similarly poor numbers this past season. Both are 26 years old, and the Sharks will need to work with both closely to restore their career trajectories.
Blackwood’s still a netminder with plenty of NHL experience, though, and a sixth-round pick is certainly worth the gamble on the netminder. With his play sharply declining, though, there didn’t seem to be a ton of interest on the trade market, so New Jersey had to settle.