Not long ago, it looked like the Sharks would soon be welcoming winger Kevin Labanc back to the lineup for the first time since suffering a shoulder injury back in December. However, as Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News notes, the team is now considering shutting the 26-year-old down for the rest of the season. Labanc visited the surgeon who performed the surgery on Thursday and got the green light but with San Jose out of the playoff picture, they may err on the side of caution and avoid any possible risk of him reaggravating the injury.
Sharks Rumors
San Jose Sharks Activate Mario Ferraro Off Injured Reserve
The San Jose Sharks activated 23-year-old top-pairing defenseman Mario Ferraro off injured reserve today, as the team announced on Twitter.
Prior to the injury, Ferraro was in the midst of a solid follow-up to his pseudo-breakout campaign in 2020-21. San Jose’s 49th-overall selection in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Ferraro had two goals, nine assists, 11 points, a -7 rating, and an average time on ice of 23:19.
Ferraro sustained a leg injury on February 26th that was expected to keep him out of the lineup for six weeks, meaning his return to the lineup comes ahead of schedule. Ferraro played just 13 shifts in that night’s game against Boston before suffering the injury, landing on the injured reserve list two days later.
The Sharks went 6-7-2 with Ferraro out of the lineup, but their goals against per games played average was 3.27 during that timeframe, up from the team’s season-long mark thus far of 3.15. Ferraro has continuously been thrown to the wolves the past two years, commonly playing alongside Brent Burns, but the young defenseman has held his own despite seeing some of the toughest minutes in the league.
Ferraro could return tonight when the Sharks host the Dallas Stars.
San Jose Sharks Re-Sign Nikolai Knyzhov
The San Jose Sharks announced today that the team has re-signed defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov to a one-year contract. PuckPedia reports the deal is one-way in nature, with a cap hit of $850,000 ($750,000 salary, $100,000 signing bonus).
Knyzhov, 24, was a pending restricted free agent. If his name doesn’t sound familiar, it would be because Knyzhov has been out of the lineup for the entire 2021-22 season with a lower-body injury sustained during training camp. However, this contract suggests that the team expects him to make a recovery for next year.
Knyzhov broke into the league as a regular in 2020-21, playing in all of the team’s 56 games that year, oftentimes finding a role in the team’s top-four alongside Erik Karlsson. He recorded two goals and eight assists for 10 points and finished the year with a -9 rating. He played his first 3 NHL games the season prior, earning a call-up from the AHL’s Barracuda in his first North American professional season.
The undrafted defenseman was in the final season of his three-year entry-level deal that carried a cap hit of $796,667. He’ll likely return next season to fill out the team’s left defense, forming a group with Mario Ferraro and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
Kevin Labanc To Consult With Surgeon; Could Return Soon
- San Jose Sharks forward Kevin Labanc could be in the lineup as soon as this weekend, according to Corey Masisak of The Athletic, but the forward will consult with the doctor who performed his recent surgery before being completely cleared for action. Labanc went under the knife in December to repair a dislocated shoulder and has played just 21 games so far this season.
Kevin Labanc Could Return Next Week
- The Sharks could get winger Kevin Labanc back at some point next week, notes Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The 26-year-old has been out since undergoing shoulder surgery back in mid-November. It had been a disappointing season for Labanc prior to the injury as he had just three goals and three assists in 21 games and with San Jose ten points out of a playoff spot heading into Monday’s games, his return will be more about trying to rediscover his offensive form over helping a late playoff push.
Lane Pederson Re-Assigned To AHL
- Forward Lane Pederson was re-assigned to the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL a day after the San Jose Sharks recalled him to play in Saturday’s win over the Anaheim Ducks. Pederson has just two assists in 27 games with the Sharks this season, but does have an impressive six goals and four assists in 11 games for the Barracuda.
Sharks Recall Lane Pederson
- The Sharks have promoted center Lane Pederson from AHL San Jose, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 24-year-old cleared waivers last month and has been productive with the Barracuda, collecting 10 points in 11 games, a sharp contrast from the two assists he has in 26 games at the NHL level.
Tampa Bay Lightning Acquire Alexei Melnichuk
The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired goalie Alexei Melnichuk from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for forward Antoine Morand, per The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka.
In Melnichuk, Tampa receives a goalie who had strong NHL upside at one point but seems to have bottomed out in North America. The Sharks signed him as an undrafted free agent after a strong 2019-20 season in Russia, where he had a .930 save percentage in 16 KHL games with SKA St. Petersburg. Since coming to the Sharks organization, though, he’s failed to post a save percentage above .900 at any level. He has an .867 in 31 AHL games with the San Jose Barracuda this year.
Morand has now been traded in consecutive seasons. Originally a Ducks prospect, he was dealt to Tampa Bay last season. In 44 games with the Syracuse Crunch this season, though, he had just ten points.
Sharks, Rangers Swap Nick Merkley, Anthony Bitetto
The San Jose Sharks have acquired defenseman Anthony Bitetto from the New York Rangers, who will be sending Nicholas Merkley in return.
Bitetto, 31, has been nothing more than a minor league depth option for the Rangers this season, seeing all game action in the AHL. His 39 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack are actually the most AHL games he’s played since 2014-15, when he had still yet to even break into the NHL with the Nashville Predators. He perhaps will get a chance to see some time with the Sharks after their trade of Jacob Middleton, though things are still rather crowded there. If he does go to the San Jose Barracuda, it could be in an attempt to steal the last AHL playoff spot in the Pacific Division, which is currently the San Diego Gulls just five points ahead.
Interestingly, Merkley’s addition could be the much more impactful one. The 24-year-old forward has just 41 games of NHL experience under his belt, but has been great for the Barracuda this season with 36 points in 43 games. A first-round pick in 2015, Merkley has yet to really establish himself as anything more than a minor league top-six forward.
In fact, given how few NHL games he has played to this point, Merkley is actually set to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent in the offseason when his one-year, two-way contract expires. Perhaps a good showing with the Hartford Wolf Pack–with how much depth the Rangers added up front today, it seems unlikely he’ll spend much time with them down the stretch–would earn him another deal with the organization.
San Jose Trades Andrew Cogliano To Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche are acquiring forward Andrew Cogliano from the San Jose Sharks, per TSN’s Bob McKenzie. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports San Jose receives a fifth-round pick in 2024. It’s another depth acquisition, secondary to the team’s bigger splash of acquiring Artturi Lehkonen just a few minutes ago.
Cogliano adds a veteran element to Colorado that Lehkonen doesn’t bring. The unheralded versatile forward can play any forward position and has 1,122 NHL games under his belt. He had 15 points in 56 games with San Jose this season, a sizeable uptick in his offensive production from the past few seasons.
Known for his durability, Cogliano went from the beginning of his career in 2007 to the 2017-18 season without missing a single game. Cogliano carries a $1MM cap hit and is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.