SAN JOSE – Forward Vladislav Namestnikov is property of the San Jose Sharks but there was anticipation that he would be moved to another team prior to the NHL trade deadline on Friday at noon.
The Sharks sent winger Mikey Eyssimont to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday for Namestnikov, a pending unrestricted free agent. The Lightning retained half of Namestnikov's $2.5 million salary cap hit to acquire Eyssimont, who had eight points in 20 games for San Jose since he was claimed off waivers by the team on Jan. 6.
Namestnikov had not joined the Sharks as of early this after and he will not play in the team's game tonight against the St. Louis Blues. It's possible he may never join the Sharks, as general manager Mike Grier would logically try to flip him for a draft pick or a player who is under team control past this season.
Sharks coach David Quinn said the trade caught him off guard, but added that it could make sense in the long run. Namestnikov played for Quinn for one full season in 2018-19 when the two were with the New York Rangers.
"To pick up a guy on the waiver wire and two months later, you get a player of the caliber of Vladdy and maybe flip him for a high pick, that's great asset management by Mike and our organization," Quinn said. "But we'll see how this plays out."
Still, Eyssimont, a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights, per Cap Friendly, played a certain hard-nosed style that was appreciated by his coaches and teammates.
Eyssimont played all 20 games in San Jose with Logan Couture, and during 5-on-5 play, the two had a Corsi-for percentage of 60.14, and out-chanced the opposition 108-66, per Natural Stat Trick.
"He was great. For me, personally, playing with him, I had a lot of fun," Couture said of Eyssimont. "He played hard, played on the inside, forechecks extremely hard. He was tenacious on the puck. It got the rest of us going on the forecheck because Mikey was always going really hard and he played the right way."
The trade, and with Namestnikov unavailable, left the Sharks with a minimum of 12 forwards, six defensemen, and two goalies for their game with the Blues just a day ahead of the deadline.
The Sharks have three pending UFA's in goalie James Reimer and forwards Nick Bonino and Andreas Johnsson, who was acquired from the New Jersey Devils on Sunday as part of the Timo Meier trade.
The Sharks could also try to move out some salary to help create a bit more cap space for the offseason, but that could also happen sometime before the start of free agency in July.
NHL teams looking to stock up for a playoff push and the start of the postseason have made a dizzying amount of trades in the last week.
Since Feb. 25 until Thursday at noon, there were 33 trades, with huge names like Patrick Kane, Jakob Chychrun and, of course, Meier being traded.
"I'm sure some guys are wondering what's going to happen, and I'm wondering what's going to happen, too," Quinn said. "You never know, the way things have gone this year, I think there's going to be some more deals that might shock some people. I'm not saying from our end of it, but I'm just saying in general throughout the league, the way the league has gone this year.
"So sit tight, who knows what's going to happen?"
The Sharks (18-31-12) are again in a seller's position, as they entered Thursday 24 points out of a playoff spot with 21 games to go.
"The week leading up to the deadline is always an unnerving time, especially when you're a seller, a team that's out of it," Couture said. "A lot of guys are nervous, and I'm sure are having a tough time sleeping at night. Obviously, you're playing in the NHL selection, so life's not terrible. But you can be moved at any possible second and your life is kind of turned upside down.
"But for us, our job is to go out and play hockey."
It is a relief when the deadline passes?
"Yes and no, because you're not where you want to be," Couture said. "So it's not a relief in that sense. We'd rather be adding guys and making a push for the playoffs. So yes, in the fact that there's not going to be a ton more changes until the end of the line, but no, because we're not in a playoff race."
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