Grading Sharks’ Tomas Hertl deal, other trade deadline moves originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Friday’s NHL trade deadline might have been the worst day in San Jose Sharks history.
Not only did the Sharks trade franchise icon Tomas Hertl, they sent him to their most bitter of rivals, the Vegas Golden Knights.
On top of that, Sharks captain Logan Couture announced that his season is over – and he has no idea when he’s coming back, if ever, from his deep groin injury.
However …
“The night is darkest just before the dawn.”
Here’s why San Jose Hockey Now believes the Sharks did well in the Hertl trade, and in their five other trade deadline deals, and why this could be the beginning of a new day in San Jose.
Tomas Hertl — Grade: B
Trade:
The Sharks should never have re-signed Hertl to an eight-year, $65.1 million extension in 2022. Everybody except the Sharks knew that this aging team needed a rebuild. The then 28-year-old center’s timeline, and his desire to win, didn’t really match up to the reality that a reconstruction was in order.
So general manager Mike Grier undid that mistake and misalignment.
In the process, for a player who just crossed 30, Grier got back two premium assets, a very good prospect in 2023 Vegas first-rounder David Edstrom and an unprotected 2025 first-round draft pick.
So that’s good valuable piece — Edstrom projects to be a high-character middle-six center in the future — for one great player who was wasting the rest of his prime on a rebuilding team.
(I know everybody is expecting that 2025 first to be at the back of the first round, and it most likely will be, but that’s also what the Sharks thought when they gave up their unprotected 2020 first-rounder to the Ottawa Senators in the Erik Karlsson trade)
“Vegas is getting desperate,” an NHL scout from outside the Sharks and Golden Knights organizations told San Jose Hockey Now.
Yes, the retention, $1.3875 million for each of the next six seasons, along with adding 2025 and 2027 third-round picks hurts.
But there was going to be a price for another team to take on the risk associated with Hertl, not just his age, but his history of knee injuries.
Could Hertl defy the aging curve like ex-teammates Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton did? Sure.
Could Hertl hit the wall hard in his 30s, like Marc-Edouard Vlasic has? There’s no way to predict either way.
So the Sharks headed off that not insignificant risk, while taking on, in the big picture, a lot of money cumulatively,…