- Noah Gregor will kick off his second stint with the Sharks tonight after resolving his work visa issues, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. Gregor, acquired from the Senators in the deadline day Fabian Zetterlund deal, was unavailable for San Jose’s last two games while getting his documentation sorted. The 26-year-old played parts of four seasons for the Sharks from 2019-20 to 2022-23, compiling 26-25–51 in 178 appearances for the club. He’d struggled in Ottawa this year after signing in the Canadian capital as a free agent last summer, posting 4-2–6 in 40 games with a -12 rating.
Sharks Rumors
Sharks’ Henry Thrun, Jan Rutta Out With Injury Long-Term
The San Jose Sharks are dealing with a pair of injured defenders who could be done for the year per Max Miller of The Hockey News. Head coach Ryan Warsofsky told Miller that veteran Jan Rutta is still weeks away from returning, and hasn’t yet returned to the team’s practices. Warsofsky was a bit less decisive on Henry Thrun, who he dubbed as being just beyond week-to-week. Miller adds that Rutta is at risk of missing the remaining five weeks of the season, while Thrun will continue to fight for a return.
Rutta hasn’t played since suffering a lower-body injury in San Jose’s January 23rd loss to the Nashville Predators. He’s missed 14 games since – a number that would double should Rutta miss the rest of the year. His season would end on a bad note if he does, with Rutta boasting just eight points, 28 penalty minutes, and a minus-six in 51 games. That, surprisingly, marks the lowest scoring pace of Rutta’s historically uneventful career – narrowly beating out his nine points in 56 games of the 2022-23 season. Rutta split the time between that down year and this one with a small resurgence last season. He recorded 19 points, 38 penalty minutes, and a minus-21 in 69 games of the 2023-24 campaign – the most he’s scored since he managed 20 points in 57 games as an NHL rookie.
Rutta filled a menial bottom-pair role throughout the season. San Jose has turned back to career-long Shark Marc-Édouard Vlasic to fill in Rutta’s role. Vlasic has played in nine games in relief, posting no scoring, a minus-eight, and two shots on net. He’s averaged 16 minutes of ice time each night across that stand.
But the Sharks haven’t wanted to tap into their defense depth behind Vlasic, leaving Thrun’s vacancy in the top-four a bit tougher to fill. He has worked his way into more-and-more ice time this season, ultimately rivaling upwards of 24 minutes of ice time in one of his most recent games. Thrun’s new absence comes after he reaggravated the upper-body injury that held him out for a week-and-a-half in early March. He’ll be set to miss even more time, after already missing five games due to the injury.
San Jose has recalled career minor-leaguer Jimmy Schuldt to step into the lineup with Thrun out. Schuldt has scored 18 points in 54 AHL games this season. He’s in his first season in the Sharks organization after spending the last two years with the Seattle Kraken’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Schuldt tallied 56 points in 139 games with the Firebirds. He’s tagged into two NHL games over the course of his seven-year pro career – one just days after signing his first pro deal with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018-19, and one earlier this season with San Jose. He has one assist in the pair of outings. The Sharks could need an extended fill-in for Thrun, which could pave the way for Schuldt to find his first NHL goal.
Sharks Recall Jimmy Schuldt
They waited a few days after sending him down Friday for AHL playoff eligibility purposes, but the Sharks announced today they’ve added defenseman Jimmy Schuldt back to their roster. They now have an extra defenseman available for tomorrow’s game against the Predators after rolling without one for Saturday’s loss to the Islanders.
Schuldt, 29, suited up in San Jose’s final game before the trade deadline after they recalled him from the minors earlier in the week. It was the 6’1″ lefty’s first NHL appearance in nearly six years and just the second of his career after debuting in April 2019 as a member of the Golden Knights.
Signed by Vegas as an undrafted free agent that year out of St. Cloud State, the Minnesota native has spent the last six years as a farmhand for the Knights, Sabres, Kraken, and now Sharks. A two-way defender with good puck-moving skills, he’s now the captain of San Jose’s AHL club after signing a two-way deal last summer with an $800K cap hit and $400K guarantee. He has 5-13–18 in 54 games for the Barracuda this season, ranking second on the club with a +15 rating.
Schuldt logged 14:15 in his Sharks debut against the Avalanche last week and posted three shots on goal with one hit. He had a good showing in sheltered minutes, controlling shots 9-3 at 5v5 and scoring chances 7-4, per Natural Stat Trick.
The fledgling Sharks would love to continue getting that play out of Schuldt as a third-pairing fill-in down the stretch. San Jose will have increased opportunity for depth blue-liners down the stretch after trading No. 1 option Jake Walman to the Oilers last week, creating space for young names like Shakir Mukhamadullin and Henry Thrun while also providing more playing time for depth vets like Schuldt. San Jose now has 22 players on their active roster and has used up one of their four post-deadline recalls.
Sharks Were Seeking First-Round Pick And More For Ferraro
- Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro had been in trade speculation going all the way back to last season but remained with San Jose through the deadline. Part of the reason for that might have been the asking price as Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now suggests that GM Mike Grier was seeking a first-round pick plus another asset for the 26-year-old. Ferraro has 11 points along with 101 blocks and 136 hits in 65 games while logging over 21 minutes a night and has one year left on his contract that carries a $3.25MM AAV.
Sharks Notes: Thrun, Giles, Gregor, Goaltenders
The Sharks announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated defenseman Henry Thrun off injured reserve. He had missed the last week and a half after suffering an upper-body injury late last month against Montreal. The 23-year-old is in his first full NHL season and has played in 51 games with San Jose thus far, picking up a goal and nine assists while averaging just under 17 minutes a night, a full three minutes a night below his ATOI from last season after he was brought up from the Barracuda. However, with Jake Walman now in Edmonton, Thrun should be in line for a bigger role with San Jose down the stretch.
More from San Jose:
- The Sharks will get a look at one of their newcomers quickly as in the same announcement as Thrun’s, the team noted that forward Patrick Giles was recalled from the Barracuda. Acquired earlier this week from Florida in the Vitek Vanecek deal, the 25-year-old played in nine games with the Panthers this season but has spent most of the year in the minors. In 39 contests on the farm with AHL Charlotte, he has five goals and two assists.
- It would appear that part of the reason for Giles’ recall is the uncertainty with Noah Gregor’s availability, suggests Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link). Gregor has to go through the immigration process before he’s cleared to play, a process that can sometimes take several days to get through. Gregor, acquired from Ottawa in a literal last-minute deal before the deadline, will be entering his second stint with the Sharks and his availability for Saturday’s game against the Islanders is in question.
- While San Jose did plenty of selling, they did try to make one small buyer move at the deadline. Speaking with reporters including Max Miller of The Hockey News (Twitter link), GM Mike Grier indicated that he tried to acquire a second goaltender to allow Georgi Romanov to remain in the minors but that the price to do so was too high. Instead, Romanov, who has just two career NHL appearances, will serve as Alexandar Georgiev’s backup with top prospect Yaroslav Askarov out due to a lower-body injury.
San Jose Sharks To Reassign Jack Thompson, Jimmy Schuldt
- According to Andy Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey, the San Jose Sharks are expected to reassign defenseman Jimmy Schuldt and Jack Thompson to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. As a minor contextual update, Max Miller of The Hockey News believes Thompson’s reassignment is a paper transaction to make him eligible for the AHL postseason. Despite low scoring output, Thompson has been an effective defenseman for the Sharks this season, averaging a 92.1% on-ice save percentage at even strength, the best on the team among defensemen with more than 20 games played.
- In addition to Schuldt and Thompson, Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News shares that the Sharks have reassigned defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin and forward Collin Graf to AHL San Jose. They’re both expected back on the Sharks’ roster later today or tomorrow, but the roster move will make them eligible for the AHL postseason. Mukhamadullin and Graf have both spent much of the year with the Barracuda. In short order, Pashelka reports the Sharks have recalled both players back to the NHL roster.
[SOURCE LINK]
Senators Acquire Fabian Zetterlund From Sharks
4:50 p.m.: Ottawa made the deal official, confirming they’ve received San Jose’s 2025 fourth-rounder.
2:16 p.m.: The Senators are acquiring winger Fabian Zetterlund, right-wing prospect Tristen Robins, and a fourth-round pick from the Sharks in exchange for forwards Zack Ostapchuk, Noah Gregor, and Ottawa’s 2025 second-round pick, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia was first to report the deal.
Zetterlund broke out in the Sharks lineup last season. He scored a career-high 24 goals and 44 points in what was his first time playing in all 82 games of a single season. The performance was backed by a modest 11.8 shooting percentage, suggesting that Zetterlund could reasonably follow it up this year. He’s done exactly that, with 17 goals and 36 points in 64 games putting him on pace for 22 goals and 46 points across a full season. That’s impressive growth considering the Sharks offense as a whole remains in the bottom-three of goals-per-game average (2.63). Across his four-year NHL career, Zetterlund has totaled 50 goals and 111 points in 227 games.
The Senators will look to bank on Zetterlund’s growing consistency with this move. Ottawa was in need of more wing depth headed into the deadline and manage to boost their depths without giving up the farm. Ostapchuk has served as one of the team’s top prospects in recent years, after Ottawa spent a second-round pick on him in the 2021 NHL Draft. Ostapchuk played his first professional season last year, netting a modest 17 goals and 28 points in 69 AHL games. That scoring wasn’t all too inspiring, but Ostapchuk demanded attention with five points in the first six AHL games of the season this year. That performance earned him a call-up in late October that he vindicated with an assist in his first NHL game of the season.
Ostapchuk has since split time between the top of the AHL lineup and the bottom of the NHL lineup. He’s scored four points in 43 NHL games, but has a far more commendable 11 points in 15 AHL games. Ostapchuk has averaged just 9:20 in ice time at the NHL level this season. That number could be due for a major boost as he heads to the Sharks, who traded away both Luke Kunin and Nico Sturm in advance of the deadline. Those departures leave two holes for bottom-six centerman that could land Ostapchuk north of 15 minutes a night. His six-foot-four, 210-pound frame should take well to the hard-nosed and physical role that Kunin leaves behind.
San Jose could fill their other center vacancy with Gregor, who has spent the full season on the NHL lineup. Gregor has six points, 17 penalty minutes, and a minus-two in 40 games with the Senators this year. It’s a slight downtick in scoring after he managed 12 points, split evenly, in 63 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs last year. This will be a reunion tour for the 26-year-old centerman, who was originally drafted in the fourth-round of the 2016 NHL Draft by San Jose. He made his debut with the Sharks three years later and quickly found a rut as a fourth-liner. Gregor totaled 26 goals and 51 points in 178 games with the Sharks across his first tenure with the club. That includes his career-high eight goals and 23 points scored in 63 games of the 2021-22 campaign. San Jose will hope Gregor can return to those numbers this year, as they look to back their young core with a stout veteran presence.
Headed back to Ottawa is speedy winger Robins, who hasn’t quite found his stride in the minor leagues just yet. He has seven goals and 18 points in 41 AHL games this season, the exact same stat line he posted in 42 AHL games last year. Robins was a bit more effective in 2022-23, when he potted 17 goals and 38 points in 64 AHL games and earned the first three NHL games of his career. The five-foot-10, 175-pound forward was once a popular name across the WHL, where he totaled 200 points in 212 games and five seasons with the Saskatoon Blades. He has scoring upside, but needs to find his footing at the AHL level and his physicality at the NHL level. Should Ottawa find a way to tap into that upside, Robins could be a lucrative addition to a deal focused around the swap of Zetterlund and Ostapchuk.
PHR’s Gabriel Foley contributed to this article.
Sharks Sign Gabriel Carriere To One-Year, Two-Way Contract
The San Jose Sharks have signed depth goaltender Gabriel Carriere to a one-year, two-way contract. Carriere was moved from the ECHL to the AHL in mid-February after splitting time between the rosters for much of the year.
Carriere is playing through his first full professional season this year, after playing in his AHL debut at the end of last year. He was previously the starter at the University of Vermont for the last three seasons, where he combined for a commendable .908 save percentage and 28-50-8 record. The AHL’s San Jose Barracuda awarded the undrafted Carriere with his first professional contract at the end of Vermont’s 2023-24 campaign, and assigned him to the ECHL at the start of this season. Carriere has made good work of his first full pro season, posting a 14-9-2 record and .922 Sv% through 25 ECHL games. He ranks eighth in the league in save percentage.
That hot start has earned Carriere a handful of AHL games throughout the season. He managed a .900 save percentage through his first four AHL games of the year, just enough to earn a hardier look when the Barracuda needed more support in February. He has played in six of the Barracuda’s last eight games, posting a .906 save percentage and 3-4-1 record. While his record still needs to come along, the Sharks have taken the step to validate Carriere’s improving performances – awarding him with the first two-way NHL contract of his career. The 24-year-old netminder should continue to rival Georgi Romanov and Aaron Dell for the AHL backup role behind top Sharks prospect Yaroslav Askarov.
Blue Jackets To Acquire Luke Kunin From Sharks
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun is reporting that the Columbus Blue Jackets have acquired forward Luke Kunin from the San Jose Sharks. A return hasn’t yet been shared. The Sharks held Kunin out of their Thrusday night game in anticipation of a move. In return, San Jose has received a 2025 fourth-round pick, per an official team report from Columbus.
Kunin will head to the Blue Jackets after two tough seasons as San Jose’s third-line center. He scored 11 goals and 18 points in both seasons with the Sharks – achieving the feat in 77 games last year and 63 games this year. That scoring has been coupled with frequent penalties and a low plus-minus. Kunin recorded 83 PIMs and a minus-30 last year and has 46 PIMs and a minus-24 this year. He also leads the Sharks in hits this year with 163.
Kunin was originally drafted 15th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild. His selection came after a standout freshman season at the University of Wisconsin, marked by 19 goals and 32 points in 34 games. He took a step forward with 22 goals and 38 points in 35 games as a sophomore, and opted to turn pro at the end of the year. Kunin joined the AHL’s Iowa Wild for the end of the 2016-17 season and quickly flashed scoring upside. He scored five goals and eight points in his first 12 AHL games, then followed it with 10 goals and 19 points in 36 games of his formal rookie season. That was enough to earn Kunin an NHL call-up partway through the 2017-18 season. He took some time to find his scoring touch, with 21 points across the first 68 games of his career – split between 2017-18 and 2018-19. The slow start pushed Kunin back to the minors for part of the latter season, but he quickly proved the decision moot with 12 goals and 20 points in 28 games. Minnesota brought Kunin back to the NHL roster for the full 2019-20 season, and 15 goals and 31 points in 63 games was enough to solidify his spot.
Kunin has been in the NHL since 2019, though Minnesota moved him to the Nashville
Predators after his breakout season. They recouped Nick Bonino and the selection used on Marat Khusnutdinov, while Kunin struggled to carry his newfound scoring touch across the Central Division. He scored just 10 goals and 19 points in his first 38 games with Nashville. Lower-body injuries cut his first year in Tennessee short. His struggle to score continued into his return in 2021-22 – but Kunin did find a different layer to his game that year. He scored just 13 goals and 22 points, but managed a career-high 99 penalty minutes as he embraced the role of a bruiser.
That hard-hitting role made Kunin an enticing pickup for the Sharks in the summer of 2022. Nashville acquired John Leonard and a draft pick for Kunin, who went on to fully embrace his hard-nosed style on an underperforming Sharks lineup. He recorded 42 penalty minutes in 31 games of his first season in San Jose, which was again cut short by injury. But the physical style proved much more repeatable, and Kunin returned with 83 PIMs in 77 games last season. His goal-scoring touch has faded the further he gets from his prime minor-league days – but Kunin still brings the heft of a six-foot, 200-pound depth centerman. He’ll be a strong depth option as the Blue Jackets gear up for what’s sure to be a hard-fought playoff run, in the mix with major Stanley Cup candidates in the Eastern Conference.
Kunin carries a $2.75MM cap hit through the end of the season. He will enter unrestricted free agency this summer without a new deal.
Maple Leafs Showing Interest In Several Bottom-Six Forwards
With their cap space relatively limited (though likely to grow once Ryan Reaves is off the roster either via waivers or AHL assignment), the Maple Leafs appear to be looking at some lower-cost options up front. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports (Twitter link) that among the bottom-six players Toronto is looking at are Kraken winger Brandon Tanev and Sharks forward Luke Kunin. Meanwhile, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that they’re also in the mix for Flyers center Scott Laughton.
Tanev is in the final season of a six-year, $21MM contract carrying a $3.5MM AAV. The 33-year-old had a breakout offensive year in 2022-23, a campaign that saw him set new personal bests in goals (16), assists (19), and points (35). However, he hasn’t been able to reach that point total in the last two seasons combined as he has reverted to his more typical level of production.
This season, Tanev has nine goals and eight assists through 61 games. Of course, physicality is his main calling card and he’s once again averaging over two hits per contest. He’s also Seattle’s most-used forward on the penalty kill which will make him more appealing to Toronto and other playoff contenders. He has a 10-team no-trade list which could come into play depending on where he’s moved, assuming the Kraken find a swap to their liking.
Kunin, meanwhile, is the most versatile player out of this group as he can be deployed at all three forward positions. The 27-year-old has only reached the 30-point mark once in his career, that being back in 2019-20 when he had 31 points in 63 games. He has equaled his line from last year, tallying 11 goals and seven assists in 63 contests while chipping in with 163 hits. Like Tanev, Kunin is also heavily used on the penalty kill.
He’s in the last year of his contract, one that carries a $2.75MM AAV. Notably, San Jose does not have any remaining retention slots while Toronto doesn’t quite have enough money to bring him in, even if Reaves is off the roster. So if the Maple Leafs are to land Kunin, they’ll either have to open up some more cap space or a third team will need to get involved to retain a chunk of the contract.
As for Laughton, he’s more of a higher-end bottom-six piece. Through 59 games this season, he has 11 goals and 16 assists, his second straight season of a decline in per-game production. Of course, the 30-year-old is known for his sound defensive game and brings the size, physicality, and penalty killing acumen that many teams are known to be coveting.
Notably, Laughton has another year left on his contract on a deal that carries a $3MM AAV. Between that and the dearth of centers available, Philadelphia is believed to have set a high asking price for Laughton’s services, a package that includes a first-round pick. If Toronto GM Brad Treliving wants to make a longer-term splash over going for a rental, he’ll have to pay a pretty hefty price to do so.