Sharks trade Hertl to Golden Knights
Team also swaps goalies with Devils, moves Simek to Red Wings
The San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights completed a stunning blockbuster deal Friday just minutes before the NHL trade deadline, with center Tomas Hertl and two third-round draft picks going to the defending Stanley Cup champions for a firstround draft pick and prospect David Edstrom.
The Sharks are receiving the Golden Knights' firstround draft pick in 2025, and Edstrom — Vegas' firstround selection last year. The third-round draft picks the Sharks are sending to the Golden Knights come in 2025 and 2027.
The Sharks are also retaining 17% of Hertl's contract, so his cap hit as a member of the Golden Knights is $6.75 million.
Hertl is in the second year of an eight-year, $65.1 million contract he signed with the Sharks in 2022. The deal carried an average annual value of $8.137 million and a full no-movement clause, which means Hertl had to approve the trade.
The Sharks and Golden Knights had been discussing a possible deal involving Hertl for some time, but questions persisted about whether the centerman would be available for the start of this year's playoffs in approximately seven weeks.
Earlier this week, though, Sharks coach David Quinn said that Hertl is “ahead of schedule” as he continues to recover from surgery he had on Feb. 12 to clean out loose cartilage in his left knee, adding that it was possible the Czech-born forward would be able to return this season.
Prior to his surgery, Hertl had a team-leading 34 points in 48 games this season.
Selected by San Jose in the 2012 NHL Draft, Hertl, in 11 seasons for the Sharks, had 484 points (218 goals, 266 assists) in 712 games. He is one of seven Sharks skaters to appear in at least 700 games with the franchise, and one of six players to score at least 200 goals.
The deal means the Sharks do not have any more salary retention spots left until the summer of 2025, likely hampering efforts to trade either captain Logan Couture or defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic in the next calendar year if the Sharks want to continue the teardown.
The Sharks are already retaining salary in the trades that saw Brent Burns go to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2022 and Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins last summer. NHL teams are only allowed to keep salary on three players on their books.
With the Hertl and Karlsson deals, the Sharks will have two of their three retention spots tied up until the summer of 2027 when Karlsson's deal expires.
Couture, who turns 35 later this month, is under contract for three more seasons after this one at a cap hit of $8 million annually. Vlasic, who turns 37 this month, has his contract run out in 2026.
Earlier this week, Sharks coach David Quinn said that Hertl is “ahead of schedule” as he continues to recover from surgery he had on Feb. 12 to clean out loose cartilage in his left knee, adding that it was possible the Czech-born forward would be able to return before the Sharks' season ends on April 18.
Edstrom, 19, is listed at 6-foot-2 and 181 pounds and is presently playing for Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League. In 42 games for the team this season, Edstrom had six goals and 17 points and earlier this year, helped Sweden capture the silver medal at the U20 World Junior championships.
SHARKS, DEVILS SWAP GOALIES >> The Sharks also traded Kaapo Kahkonen to the New Jersey Devils for Vitek Vanecek in a swap of goalies.
The Sharks are getting a 2025 seventh-round draft in the trade.
In another deal, the Sharks acquired goalie Devin Cooley from the Buffalo Sabres for a 2025 seventh-round pick originally owned by the Washington Capitals. Cooley, 26, is a Los Gatos native and a former Jr. Shark who has spent all of his pro career in the minor leagues.
Vanecek, 28, is signed for one more season with a cap hit of $3.4 million and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2025. He is on injured reserve with a lowerbody injury. He is 17-9-3 this season with a .890 save percentage in 32 games.
Kahkonen sat on the Sharks' bench Thursday night as Magnus Chrona got the start in net and made 26 saves in a 7-2 loss to the New York Islanders. Quinn said he wanted to reward Chrona after he made 36 saves in the Sharks' 3-2 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars on March 2.
The 27- year- old Kahkonen, now in his fourth full NHL season, is 6-20-3 in 31 games this year with a .895 save percentage. He's in the second and final season of a two-year, $5.5 million contract he signed with the Sharks in July 2022. SHARKS TRADE VETERAN DEFENSEMAN TO RED WINGS >> Earlier in the day, the Sharks acquired forward Klim Kostin from the Detroit Red Wings for veteran defenseman Radim Simek and a seventh-round draft pick.
Kostin, 24, was the 31st overall pick by the St. Louis Blues in the 2017 NHL draft, and the 6-foot-3 Russian made his NHL debut with the team in 2019. He has four points (three goals) in 33 games with the Red Wings this year and was a healthy scratch for eight straight games before returning to the lineup in Wednesday's loss to Colorado.
He is in the first year of a two-year, $4 million deal signed last summer and has struggled to meet expectations after recording career highs last year with the Oilers in points (21), goals (11) and assists (10).
This is the fourth NHL stop for Kostin, who has 36 points (19 goals, 17 assists) in 136 career NHL games, split between Detroit, Edmonton and the St. Louis Blues. He set career highs in 2022-23 with 21 points, 11 goals, 10 assists, two gamewinning goals and a plus12 rating with the Edmonton Oilers.
Simek, 31, has spent all of this season with the AHL's Barracuda, where he was the team captain, but played in 209 games with the Sharks over the previous five seasons.
Simek was signed as a free agent in May 2017, and during the 2018-19 season was the Sharks' Rookie of the Year, leading the team's rookies in games, points and assists.