San Jose busy during the day, AWOL at night
The Sharks thought their work was done at Monday’s noon NHL trade deadline because they didn’t show up for their game at night.
Anaheim took advantage of San Jose’s porous firstperiod defense to strike three times and journeyman goalie Anthony Stolarz made 46 saves for his third career shutout in a 40 win at SAP Center.
“Real disappointed,” Sharks head coach Bob Boughner said. “We had a tough start the first 510 minutes, but it was us mismanaging pucks. Even after the first period, we thought it was far from done but we couldn’t solve Stolarz.”
Though the Sharks certainly didn’t like the result, the team was happy with what it accomplished away from the ice. San Jose cast off five players who were not part of the future, acquired two who might help sooner rather than later, bolstered its goaltending pipeline and stockpiled its draft cache with three choices over the next two drafts.
And although their playoff chances remain slim, Doug Wilson was careful not to raise the white flag and send the message a general manager never wants to send with 15 games remaining.
The departed Sharks over the past three days — Fredrik Claesson, Antti Suomela, Stefan Noesen, Nick DeSimone and Devan Dubnyk — were neither part of the team’s core nor part of the organization’s future plans.
“We explored a lot of things, but we’re a hockey team that’s trying to win now also,” Wilson said. “We’re competing with an eye to the future with us replenishing and adding picks.”
Wilson added two fourthround picks in separate deals for the 2021 draft, and acquired a fifth in ’22. Two of the three picks came in threeway trades that included the Sharks offering a portion of their $12 million in salarycap surplus to help Chicago-Vegas and Toronto-Columbus complete trades.
“This is where we wanted to get to, especially with the uniqueness of this year’s draft,” said Wilson, who has eight picks for the July draft with a plan to acquire more. “A lot of players who haven’t played or seen much, I think the ability to get really good players in those midrounds is more than it’s ever been.”
Minorleague goalie Zach Sawchenko was signed to a twoyear deal to provide the team with a taxisquad netminder, which will allow rookies Alexei Melnichuk and Josef Korenar to either back up Martin Jones or continue to play with the Barracuda of the AHL. San Jose also acquired 6foot6 University of Denver netminder Magnus Chrona.
One player staying put is Patrick Marleau, who moved three shy of Gordie Howe’s alltime mark of 1,767 games played while also playing in his 895th consecutive game. Marleau, 41, was dealt at last year’s deadline to Pittsburgh before resigning with the Sharks after the Penguins were ousted from the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“We all know the respect we have for Patty Marleau,” Wilson said. “He’s here. We’re happy to see him break that record as a Shark.”
San Jose acquired Russian winger Alexander Barabanov, 26, from Toronto for Suomela. With one assist in 13 games this season, Barabonov’s international success and potential boost with a change of scenery intrigued Wilson.
On the injury front, defenseman MarcEdouard Vlasic skated beforehand for the first time since getting hurt April 3. He’s hopeful for Friday’s trip opener in Minnesota. And Wilson said forward Matt Nieto is expected back in the next couple of weeks after having missed 13 straight.