SJ rewards first-round draft pick after strong summer performance

Musty played on a line with Bordeleau, Eklund in preseason game vs. Las Vegas

Quentin Musty might be headed back to Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League soon but not without a contract from the San Jose Sharks.

The Sharks announced Wednesday that they’ve signed Musty, one of their two first-round draft picks from earlier this year, to a standard entry-level contract. For 18-year-olds like Musty, those contracts are three years in length.

Musty’s contract carries a salary cap hit of $950,000, per a source, and is worth $855,000 at the NHL level, and $82,500 at the AHL level.

Musty, drafted 26th overall by the Sharks in June, enjoyed a strong development camp in July and also played well at the Rookie Faceoff event in Las Vegas last month. He was injured on the first day of the Sharks’ main training camp on Sept. 21, but recently returned to practice and was able to play in Tuesday night’s preseason game in Las Vegas, a 2-0 San Jose win.

“Very, very impressed. I thought he had a lot of poise and played at a good pace,” Sharks coach David Quinn said of Musty. “There was a lot to like about him.”

Musty, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound native of Hamburg, N.Y. just south of Buffalo, had 15:16 of ice time as he played on a line with fellow forward prospects Thomas Bordeleau and William Eklund. Bordeleau scored a second-period goal on a dazzling assist by Eklund.

All three players remained in camp as of Wednesday morning as the Sharks prepared for their final preseason game Thursday in Salt Lake City against the Los

Angeles Kings.

While Bordeleau and Eklund are vying for spots on the Sharks’ roster, Musty will presumably be headed back to the OHL soon, although nothing yet has been announced by the Sharks.

The Sharks took Musty with one of the draft picks they acquired from New Jersey as part of February’s trade that sent winger Timo Meier to the Devils. Last season with Sudbury, Musty had 78 points in 53 games.

“I think everyone’s goal is to make the team,” Musty said Tuesday morning. “I know I’m a younger guy, but I came in here trying to make the team. That’s the point of all this. But wherever they want for me, I trust them with my development.”

The Sharks’ other firstround pick from earlier this year, forward Will Smith, is just starting his freshman season at Boston College.

Smith, 18, could turn professional as soon as March or April after the Golden Eagles’ season comes to an end.

The Sharks signed their 2023 second-round draft pick, forward Kasper Halttunen, to an entry-level contract in July. TRANSACTIONS The Sharks placed defenseman Leon Gawanke on waivers Wednesday. If Gawanke, 24, is not claimed by another team by Thursday morning, he will be reassigned to the Barracuda of the AHL.

In July, Gawanke was acquired by the Sharks for the Winnipeg Jets for defenseman Artemi Kniazev, the Sharks’ second-round pick in 2019.

The Sharks also returned forward Justin Bailey, who is on a professional tryout, to the Barracuda’s training camp.