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Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Alexander Barabanov

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So much for the big KHL signings. The Toronto Maple Leafs have now traded both Mikko Lehtonen and Alexander Barabanov after just a handful of games in the NHL, with the latter going to the San Jose Sharks at the deadline. The Sharks will send Antti Suomela to Toronto in return.

Barabanov played just 13 games for the Maple Leafs after signing his one-year entry-level contract. A strong KHL performer who recorded 46 points in 2018-19, he came to Toronto this season with an eye on regular NHL minutes and wasn’t ever really able to secure them. Even when dressing he averaged fewer than nine minutes a night, and though there were flashes of skill, Barabanov failed to score even a single goal.

With Nick Foligno acquired recently and top prospect Nicholas Robertson back up with the team, there wasn’t going to much more playing time for Barabanov with the Maple Leafs. He’ll try to get some extra playing time in San Jose, but the reality is that a return to the KHL could be coming fast. The 26-year-old is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this year.

Suomela, 27, shouldn’t be considered much of a return for the Maple Leafs, even though he does have 51 games of NHL experience. He’s a depth forward that hasn’t even dominated at the AHL level, meaning he’ll be hard-pressed to crack the Maple Leafs skilled forward group.

Tampa Bay Lightning Acquire Fredrik Claesson

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have added some more depth to the blue line, acquiring Fredrik Claesson from the San Jose Sharks. The Lightning will send the rights to goaltending prospect Magnus Chrona back the other way. GM Julien BriseBois released a short statement on the deal:

Bringing in Fredrik allows us to have five left shot defensemen and six right shot defensemen with NHL experience on our reserve list. History has proven that you will need depth on defense if you are going to have an extended playoff run.

Claesson, 28, has played just nine NHL games since the beginning of the 2019-20 season, but likely won’t be asked to play much more than that for the Lightning unless they suffer some catastrophic injuries. The Lightning already added David Savard to solidify their top-four, and now have brought in a little more depth at the position as well.

He carries just a $700K contract and can report directly to the Tampa Bay taxi squad, meaning he does not affect the cap hit at all.

Chrona, 20, just finished his sophomore season at the University of Denver, where he put up a .907 save percentage in 18 appearances. Selected in the fifth round of the 2018 draft, the Swedish netminder would need to be signed to enter the Sharks development system.

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic was first to report a deal was coming.

Toronto Maple Leafs Acquire Nick Foligno

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have been the biggest winners of the trade deadline so far, at least among sellers, having successfully moved defenseman David Savard to the Tampa Bay Lightning for first and third-round picks Saturday. Now, as TSN’s Frank Seravalli was first to report, the team has traded captain Nick Foligno as well, for another pricey return. After noting that several teams were in the bidding for Foligno, offering up first-round picks to get a deal done, Seravalli revealed that the Toronto Maple Leafs are the lucky club that will land the veteran forward.

The terms of the Foligno deal are very similar to the Savard trade, with a third team being used as a broker to retain salary. The Blue Jackets retained 50% Foligno’s contract, an expiring deal with a $5.5MM AAV, and traded him to the San Jose Sharks, who retained 50% of the remainder before passing him along to the Maple Leafs, leaving Toronto with just a $1.375MM hit. In exchange, the Blue Jackets receive Toronto’s 2021 first-round pick and 2022 fourth-round pick. The Sharks also receive a Toronto fourth-round pick in 2021 and send depth forward Stefan Noesen to the Leafs.

While the biggest buyers tend to get the most attention at the deadline, as the 2018-19 Blue Jackets can attest, this year’s Columbus team already feels like story of the 2021 deadline. In a market that was expected to suffer from salary cap crunches, border logistics, and a plethora of potential sellers, the Blue Jackets have turned two good-not-great players into a pair of first-round picks and two additional mid-round picks by getting creative with three-team deals to solve financial struggles. Both Foligno and Savard have been long-time Blue Jackets who worked hard and found great success, but to receive a first-rounder for either one would have been a surprise in a normal season, nevertheless in this strange market. GM Jarmo Kekalainen deserves all of the accolades coming to him for these trades, especially if Foligno re-signs in Columbus this off-season as many expect.

With that said, Foligno’s acquisition is still a strong move by the Leafs even at a high cost. Toronto is all-in this season and Folingo provides experience, leadership, work ethic, positional versatility, a strong defensive game, and some scoring as well. The 33-year-old also knows that this could be his best shot at winning a Stanley Cup and is sure to give it all he has. Foligno is the type of veteran depth addition that can often propel a team to a deep playoff run, especially when surrounded by other elite talent, of which there is a plethora in Toronto. Foligno has seven goals and 16 points in 42 games this season, as well as over 100 hits, and has shown in the past that he is capable of even more scoring and more physicality than he has already shown this year.

In Noesen, the Leafs add yet another forward option who can safely be sent to the taxi squad or AHL after clearing waivers earlier this season. The 28-year-old rental has over 200 NHL games under his belt and plays a gritty, hard-nosed style. Noesen is easy to forget in this deal, but could slide into a fourth-line role with Toronto if injuries strike. He was not being utilized by the Sharks this season, who will gladly move on and eat $1.375MM of Foligno’s cap in exchange for a draft pick.

 

Snapshots: Fleury, Veleno, Sharks

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Another player is expected to be held out of the lineup tonight, though it isn’t for a traditional seller. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the Carolina Hurricanes will hold Haydn Fleury out of the lineup tonight and notes that the young defenseman could “potentially” be traded by the deadline. Jake Gardiner is going back into the Carolina lineup in Fleury’s place.

The Hurricanes, who are 27-9-3 this season and first in the Central Division, are expected to be buyers at the deadline, but moving one of their defensemen could be a way to improve elsewhere. Fleury, 24, is signed through next season and carries a $1.3MM cap hit, but (somewhat amazingly) has recorded just a single point this season in a limited role.

  • Joe Veleno’s season in the SHL has come to an end, and Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reports that he has been recalled to North America. Veleno’s week-long quarantine will begin on Sunday, after which he would be eligible to play for the Red Wings or Grand Rapids Griffins. The 21-year-old Veleno hasn’t made his NHL debut yet after being selected 30th overall in 2018, but has two seasons of professional hockey under his belt now. This season with the Malmo Redhawks of the SHL, Veleno recorded 11 goals and 20 points in 46 games.
  • After the Tampa Bay Lightning used a third team to make David Savard fit into their cap structure, one might expect other complicated multi-team trades to go down in the next couple of days. The San Jose Sharks could be another team using cap space as a way to collect assets, as GM Doug Wilson told reporters including Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News. Wilson believes that the Sharks will “be a good team come next September” but adds that he will try to acquire some extra draft picks by using that cap space.

Avalanche Acquire Devan Dubnyk From Sharks

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Colorado has been in need of a veteran backup goalie for most of the season and they have found one as they have acquired Devan Dubnyk from San Jose in exchange for defenseman Greg Pateryn and a 2021 fifth-round pick.  Both teams have confirmed the deal.  Sharks GM Doug Wilson released the following statement on the move:

Devan brought the element of consummate professionalism and class to our dressing room, in what has been an extremely unique and challenging season. He fit seamlessly within our group and helped mentor many of our younger players. We thank him for his contributions to our club on and off the ice this season and wish him the best in Colorado.

The 34-year-old netminder was in his first season with the Sharks following an offseason trade from Minnesota that San Jose was hoping would help him rediscover his form from a few years ago.  However, that didn’t happen as Dubnyk has posted a 3.18 GAA with a save percentage of just .898, numbers that weren’t much better than his final year with the Wild.

Nevertheless, the move to bring Dubnyk in makes sense from the perspective of the Avs.  Pavel Francouz has been injured all season long, forcing Philipp Grubuaer to play the overwhelming majority of the games so far and while he has played great, there is the risk of burning him out if that was to continue down the stretch.  Jonas Johansson was brought in last month to try to help and while he’s coming off a shutout last night, he clearly wasn’t the solution for the rest of the season.  Dubnyk should be able to play a bit more often over the final month to help keep Grubauer fresh with the cost of adding that insurance being relatively low.

Pateryn is on the move for the second time this season after being acquired early in the year for Ian Cole in a move designed to give them a bit of cap flexibility and a spot for Bowen Byram.  His inclusion is primarily for cap-matching purposes as his $2.25MM AAV is slightly higher than Dubnyk’s $2.167MM price tag (Minnesota is paying the other half of that from the offseason trade).  As a result, Peter Baugh of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that there is no salary retention in the deal.  Pateryn has split the season between the NHL, AHL, and taxi squad and will likely have a similar role as a depth blueliner or taxi squad piece for San Jose.

The move frees up a roster spot for either Alexei Melnichuk or Josef Korenar to join San Jose’s roster for the stretch run.  Both youngsters could be part of the plan as soon as next season so the chance to evaluate one or both of them in NHL action will be beneficial.  Meanwhile, Colorado GM Joe Sakic has now added veteran depth for the second time in as many days following yesterday’s acquisition of Patrik Nemeth from Detroit to supplement their roster for what they hope is a long playoff run.

Kevin Weekes of the NHL Network was the first to report that Dubnyk was going to Colorado while Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman first noted the fifth-round pick going to San Jose.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Trade Deadline Primer: San Jose Sharks

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We are now less than a week away from the NHL Trade Deadline and talks are heating up. Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make?  We continue our look around the league with the San Jose Sharks.

Earlier this season, it appeared as if the San Jose Sharks were in for another disappointing year. The club wanted to use the shortened 2020-21 campaign to evaluate their core and the early returns were not encouraging. However, the past few weeks have changed everything. The Sharks are 6-3-1 in their past ten games, including four straight wins. In the meantime, the St. Louis Blues have continued to slump while four of the Sharks’ recent wins have come against the Los Angeles Kings. Suddenly, San Jose finds themselves in contention for a playoff spot in the West Division, just three points back with a game in hand on the fourth-place Arizona Coyotes.

With that said, some recent luck is not going to change the Sharks’ plans for the season. The team is not going to give up major assets for short-term help just on the off-chance that they can sneak into the playoffs where the West’s daunting top three teams await. The core is still in the process of proving themselves and San Jose likely wants to see if they have the pieces in place to be a playoff team once again, knowing that rentals will not put themselves over the top this season. This does not mean that the Sharks will sit back at the deadline though; the club has some fringe pieces on expiring contracts that they could look to deal away and there are some needs beyond this season that they may discover a chance to address. In short, San Jose is unlikely to stand pat, but don’t expect them to sell off anything more than rental pieces or to acquire any major rental help of their own.

Record

17-16-4, .514, T-5th in East Division

Deadline Status

Light Seller/Opportunistic Buyer

Deadline Cap Space

$2.41MM in full-season space ($10.74MM at the deadline), 0/3 retention slots used, 48/50 contracts used per CapFriendly

Upcoming Draft Picks

2021: SJS 1st, SJS 3rd, SJS 4th, SJS 5th, SJS 6th, SJS 7th
2022: SJS 1st, SJS 2nd, SJS 3rd, SJS 4th, SJS 6th, MIN 7th

Trade Chips

In terms of rentals, the Sharks do not have much to offer other buyers. However, for that same reason they will probably not hesitate to move any of their expiring contracts if there is interest. None of the Sharks’ impending UFA’s are anything more than depth pieces, in San Jose or elsewhere. The Sharks’ ability to retain salary if need be could result in some better trade returns, but there isn’t much to get excited about.

Among the rental group, veteran goaltender Devan Dubnyk is likely their most valuable trade chip, if only because he is one of a small number of available net minders with postseason experience. The Sharks’ plan to combine Dubnyk and Martin Jones and hope one will rediscover their starter status has not really worked out. Jones has improved marginally this year, but Dubnyk has been a bust. The 34-year-old has an .898 save percentage and 3.18 GAA thus far, resulting in just three wins on the year. Dubnyk will not command much of a return unless the scarcity of goalies creates a bidding war. There are certainly those in San Jose who would like to see Jones traded, but that move won’t happen at the deadline, if it ever happens at all.

Up front, Patrick Marleau is the biggest name, but not likely to be the most valuable. Sure, Marleau brings more experience and leadership than most in the game, but he did not work out as a rental for the Pittsburgh Penguins last year and that was even after finding decent success with the Sharks pre-trade. The 41-year-old has been a non-factor this season with just six points 37 games and may not even have any suitors. Making the playoffs one last time with the Sharks would probably mean more than another go-round as a rental for the respected veteran. The real name to watch among San Jose’s expiring forwards is Marcus Sorensen. Although his production has been poor this season, Sorenson is a good two-way forward and notched 17 goals and 30 points just two years ago. Contenders looking for fourth line options could do worse than Sorenson. Matthew Nieto and Kurtis Gabriel are other bottom-six forwards who could have value, but Nieto is currently injured and Gabriel has become a well-liked locker room presence for the Sharks this year, so neither is a lock to leave.

Others to Watch For: D Fredrik Claesson ($700K, UFA), F Fredrik Handemark ($925K, UFA), F Stefan Noesen ($925K, UFA), F Antti Suomela ($700K, UFA), D Nick DeSimone ($700K, Group 6 UFA)

Team Needs

1) Term Forward – Even if the Sharks don’t venture into true “buyer” territory, they still need to keep their eyes open for possible forward additions for next season – or more accurately, for the Expansion Draft. San Jose is in a tough situation when it comes to meeting the exposure requirements of the impending draft. Currently, they have just five forwards who meet the games played and term criteria and all five will almost certainly be protected: Logan Couture, Evander Kane, Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl, and Kevin Labanc. They have zero forwards who can meet the exposure requirements simply by playing more games this season. This means that the Sharks must add two forward before the draft, either by re-signing or acquisition. Their extension candidates, who would qualify by only signing on for another year, include Sorenson, Marleau, and Nieto – any of whom could be traded and none of whom appear to be part of the Sharks’ future – and Dylan Gambrell and Rudolfs Balcers, who would seemingly be competing for the seventh and final protection spot. As a result, it seems more likely than not that San Jose will need to make an addition before June and they may as well add some additional help before the deadline, especially if the likes of Sorenson, Marleau, or Nieto head out of town. The Sharks could honestly use another long-term top-six forward, especially with the futures of Kane and Hertl in doubt, if they do decide to take a bigger swing at the deadline.

2) Goaltender – If the Sharks do trade Dubnyk, they won’t have much choice but to add another goaltender. The club likes young keepers Alexei Melnichuk and Josef Korenar, but the duo’s AHL numbers show that they are not ready for NHL backup duty this year and probably not next year either. San Jose could look for a cheaper rental to replace Dubnyk or they could look for a goalie with term or an impending free agent that would warrant an extension. The Sharks have previously been linked to the Florida Panthers’ Chris Driedger.

3) Prospect Defensemen – If the Sharks are not successful in landing valuable draft picks in exchange for their rentals, they should target defensive prospects. While San Jose has some nice young defensemen at the NHL level, the pipeline is all but bare behind polarizing Ryan Merkley. The team desperately needs to add bodies on the blue line, especially with an aging core in the NHL and the potential to lose a roster defenseman in the Expansion Draft.

Jasper Weatherby To Stay At North Dakota For His Senior Season

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  • Sharks prospect Jasper Weatherby has notified the team that he will remain at North Dakota for his senior year, notes Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald. The 23-year-old was a fourth-round pick of San Jose back in 2018 and had a strong junior season with 14 goals, most of which came in the second half.  That was enough for the Sharks to offer him a chance to turn pro but Weatherby stated that he wants to take one more shot at winning a college title.

San Jose Sharks Sign Scott Reedy

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The San Jose Sharks have added another prospect to the depth chart, signing Scott Reedy to a two-year entry-level contract. The deal will kick in for the 2021-22 season and Reedy is expected to join the San Jose Barracuda on an amateur tryout for the rest of the 2020-21 season. Sharks GM Doug Wilson released a short statement on the signing:

Scott just capped off a tremendous career at Minnesota, leading the Gophers in goal scoring each of the last two years, and as one of the nation’s youngest seniors he has steadily improved with each season. His big frame allowed him to play a very important, versatile role and some tough minutes on one of the top teams in college hockey this past season.

Reedy, 21, was originally selected 102nd overall by the Sharks in 2017 but is coming off a strong four years of development at the University of Minnesota. The 6’2″ forward managed a point-per-game senior season, scoring 28 in 28, though he didn’t actually lead the Gophers in goal scoring as Wilson suggests. Reedy had just 11 tallies this season, well behind Colorado Avalanche draft pick Sampo Ranta’s 19.

Still, there is a bright future for Reedy in professional hockey. His versatility and size should allow him to seamlessly move into an AHL lineup, playing either center or the wing. Whether he can ever make it all the way to the NHL is still very much uncertain, but the Sharks obviously believed in him enough to hand out an entry-level contract.

Sharks Open To Adding Salary In Trades

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With so many teams up against the salary cap this season, the trade deadline is going to largely be about clearing out money.  Some of the teams with surplus cap space don’t appear to be willing to use it but as Pierre LeBrun reports in his latest piece for The Athletic (subscription link), the Sharks are letting teams know that they’re willing to take on money as long as it comes with another asset or two in the process.

San Jose isn’t a typical buyer in terms of their placement in the West Division where they sit tied for sixth place and are six points out of the final postseason spot which is currently held by St. Louis.  However, with the team having the ability to add more than $8MM in contracts per CapFriendly, they could certainly pick up a player or act as a third-party facilitator in which they acquire a player and retain part of the contract before flipping him to a third team.

The Sharks have more than $68MM tied up in payroll commitments for 2021-22 already to just 13 players which is going to limit what they can do.  In order to keep what little space they have available, GM Doug Wilson would be wise to restrict himself to taking or retaining on expiring contracts.  It’s worth noting that they have not used any of their three salary retention slots for this season.

As a result of several win-now moves made in recent years, San Jose’s prospect pool has been weakened and they don’t have a full complement of draft picks in either the 2021 or 2022 drafts.  While teams technically can’t buy draft picks, it certainly seems as if the Sharks may be willing to get creative to ultimately accomplish just that.

Radim Simek Questionable To Play Tonight

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