Nieto traded to Avalanche in four-player deal
The Sharks' selloff began in earnest Wednesday night as they traded forward Matt Nieto and Barracuda defenseman Ryan Merkley to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Jacob Macdonald and forward Martin Kaut.
Nieto, among a handful of pending unrestricted free agents on the Sharks roster, re-joins an Avalanche team that he played for from 2016 to 2020. In 45 games for San Jose this season, Nieto, a second-round draft pick by the Sharks in 2011, had 15 points and was one of the team's top penalty killers.
In 364 career games with San Jose, Nieto, a Long Beach native, had 109 points.
The deal, which comes a little more than five weeks ahead of the NHL'S trade deadline on March 3, also closes the book on Merkley's sometimes tumultuous tenure in San Jose.
Merkley was the Sharks' first-round draft pick in 2018 and was once described as the organization's top prospect.
But feeling that he had plummeted on the Sharks' organizational depth chart this season, Merkley requested a trade earlier this month. He had not appeared in an AHL game since Dec. 31, although team officials said he was also dealing with a minor injury.
Merkley's only games with the Sharks came last season when he had one goal and five assists in 39 games at the NHL level. But Merkley, a pending restricted free agent, did not make the Sharks' roster out of training camp, as he was left in San Jose while the team took undrafted center Nick Cicek to Europe.
Just days before his last game with the Barracuda, the offensively gifted Merkley was benched for the second and third periods of a Dec. 27 game against Bakersfield. Coach John Mccarthy was upset with Merkley's lack of effort on the defensive end, a recurring issue during the defenseman's time in the organization.
This season with the Barracuda, Merkley had 14 points, all assists, in 30 games. In 93 career AHL games, Merkley has two goals, 42 assists, and 70 penalty minutes.
The Sharks' other pending UFA'S are forward Nick Bonino and goalie James Reimer, as San Jose (14-2510) entered Wednesday in seventh place in the Pacific Division, 17 points out of a playoff spot.
But other players have been rumored to be on the move, including leading goal-scorer Timo Meier and defensemen Erik Karlsson and Jaycob Megna.
Macdonald will join the Sharks on the road, as they play the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. Kaut will join the Barracuda, which played in Henderson, Nev. on Wednesday, with a second meeting on Friday.
Macdonald, 29, is in the first season of a two-year, two-way contract that carries a $762,500 cap hit at the NHL level. Kaut is a pending RFA.
Macdonald has 12 points and 21 penalty minutes in a combined 76 NHL games with Florida and Colorado. He had two assists in 33 games with the Avalanche this season, averaging 8:40 of ice time per game.