NHL Rumors: Sharks say everyone is available, and Sabres shopping for defense
Anthony Scultore
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Today’s NHL Rumors looks at the struggling San Jose Sharks as they’re off to a 3-7-0 start to this season.
Then we take a quick pit stop in Buffalo, where the Sabres are reportedly in the market for a defenseman.
NHL Rumors: San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks terrible start has them reconsidering their retooling plans and possibly heading to a rebuild.
According to Pierre LeBrun, the word around the National Hockey League is that GM Mike Grier is telling teams almost every player on the roster is available.
“The Sharks have let it be known 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,” LeBrun said Thursday on Insider Trading. “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 to 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.”
TSN
One name that will garner a ton of attention is Timo Meier.
Meier, 26, only has one goal and four points in 10 games this season. That’s well below the pace he was on in 2021-22 when he scored 35 goals, 41 assists, and 76 points in 77 contests. All career highs.
This is the final season of a 4-year deal for $6M AAV and he’s slated to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in July. The Sharks may opt to trade him at the deadline in March for a haul of picks and prospects.
As NHL Trade Bait lists start to formulate over the next few months, expect to see Meier on many of them.
NHL Rumors: Sabres looking for defense
The Buffalo Sabres have lost two straight to put a damper on their surprisingly good start. With the team now at 4-3-0, GM Kevyn Adams is in the market for a defenseman after losing Mattias Samuelsson and Henri Jokiharju to injury.
Ethan Bear was supposedly on their radar, but the Vancouver Canucks acquired him on Friday.
It will be interesting to see just what Buffalo is willing to do in the next week or so.
