Fire sale in San Jose as trade talks heat up!

All eyes on the Sharks:

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 1 year ago
Fire sale in San Jose as trade talks heat up!
Zuma

The San Jose Sharks are struggling at the start of the 2022-23 season and some wonder already if the team will sell or buy this year. On Thursday, Darren Dreger was asked that same question on Insider Trading on TSN, and explained how there is a sense that a fire sale will take place in California, though some untouchables will be protected in trade talks.

“The Sharks have let it be know that they’re willing to listen on pretty much every player on their roster other than perhaps Tomas Hertl, who just signed an eight-year extension last year. Listen, Mike Grier is the new GM, he didn’t take long to make significant changes last summer either and this is where he’s going to need to be creative. Brent Burns only had three teams he could be traded for last summer. He actually waived to go to Carolina which wasn’t one of the three teams. That Sharks’ payroll and roster right now has a bunch of guys, led by the likes of Erik Karlsson, with full no-move clauses, it’s going to be difficult for Mike Grier to enact the kind of change that he wants, but that’s his intention over the next couple years.”

I’m starting to wonder if the Sharks aren’t going all in to win the “Tank for Bedard” sweepstakes…

The Sharks are struggling to bring on the offense despite the fact that the team already has more secondary scoring on paper than they did last season.

If a fire sale indeed takes place to start a rebuild under Grier and if Hertl is the only untouchable, the Sharks’ main trade bait will be Timo Meier. Though he has just a goal this season, Meier is a talented forward who can win puck battles and put it at the back of the net, putting up 35 goals and 76 points in 77 games in San Jose last season.

If the sale sign goes up ahead of the trade deadline in March, rival teams will come calling and the phone will be ringing off the hook in San Jose.