Report: Simek agrees to terms
Four-year contract extension worth around $8 million
SAN JOSE >> The Sharks and defenseman Radim Simek have reportedly agreed to terms on a four-year contract extension worth around $8 million.
Simek said after the Sharks’ Monday practice that the contract has not yet been signed, although the framework of a new deal is in place. The Sharks had not confirmed any new contract for Simek as of early Monday afternoon. Doug Wilson is attending the NHL general manager meetings in Boca Raton, Florida.
The initial report came from iSport.cz of the Czech Republic, Simek’s home country.
Simek, 27, is in the final season of a two-year, $1.35 contract extension he signed with the Sharks in April 2018 and was slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
The reported deal would run through the 2023-24 season.
He has eight points this season, as he’s averaged 16 minutes and 41 seconds of ice time in 43 games.
Simek, a left shot defenseman, suffered a torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his in March of last year in a game against the Winnipeg Jets. Simek, who also damaged his meniscus in the accident, returned to the Sharks’ lineup Nov. 5.
He has played 16 games until Dec. 7 before he had to sit out seven games to deal with irritation related to his meniscus.
The Sharks are 23-16-3 this season with Simek in the lineup, although they are 12-13-2 with Simek since Dec. 27 when he returned.
Simek has spent much of the season with Mario Ferraro on the Sharks third defense pair. After Brenden Dillon was traded to the Washington Capitals on Feb. 18, Simek has played with Brent Burns for the last six games.
Against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, a 5-0 Sharks win, Simek had two hits and three blocked shots in 21:34 of ice time.
“If it’s true, I’m a big (Simek) fan,” Sharks interim coach Bob Boughner said of the reported deal. “I think an example is the Pittsburgh game, how hard he plays and he’s not a fun guy to play against.
“You get him and you get (Ferraro) and you get guys like that on your back end, that just gives you a little more sandpaper and makes it hard on the opposing forwards. Part of that identity that we’re trying to create.”
Simek was initially signed to a one-year contract by the Sharks out of the Czech Republic in May 2017.
He spent the 2017-18 season with the Barracuda before he made the Sharks roster out of training camp the following season. After spending the first two months of the season as a healthy scratch, Simek got a chance to play in early December 2018 and, paired with Burns, became a mainstay of the Sharks’ blue line.
MIDDLETON OUT >> Jacob Middleton is considered week-to-week with a lower body injury, but Boughner said he is hoping the defenseman has not been lost for the season.
“There’s no promises there because it’s week-to-week,” Boughner said. “I’d like to think he’d probably be back before the end of the season, yes.”
Middleton, 24, was injured in the third period of Saturday’s game. Middleton and Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist were in the front of the Sharks’ net when Hornqvist shoved Middleton in the upper chest. Middleton fell back while he skates remained on the ice, bending his leg in an awkward manner.
Middleton reached for his lower left leg as he fell. He briefly stood upright after the play but could not put any weight on his left leg. He then made his way toward the Sharks bench with one leg before he was helped off the ice and into the Sharks’ dressing room.
Middleton had played in six straight games on the Sharks’ third defense pair after the Dillon trade.
The Sharks are also without Erik Karlsson, who suffered a season-ending thumb injury Feb. 14 when he blocked a shot in a game against the Winnipeg Jets. Karlsson recently had surgery.
“It’s a tough one because
I thought he was playing really well and was finally getting his opportunity,” Boughner said of Middleton. “But the games he did play I was pretty happy with him.”
The Sharks have 17 regular season games left and host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
In Monday’s practice, Brandon Davison, who was acquired by the Sharks on Feb. 24 from the Calgary Flames for future considerations, was with Tim Heed on the third defense pair.
Davidson, 28, played in seven games this season for Calgary. He also had 20 points in 34 games this season with Stockton.
In 169 career NHL games with Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, the New York Islanders and Chicago, Davidson has 23 points and has averaged close to 17 minutes of ice time per game.
“I think that coming here is kind of a good opportunity for my career to kind of reestablish myself and really just to play some bigger minutes,” Davidson said Monday. “So hopefully I get the chance to do that tomorrow.”