NHL Rumors: San Jose Sharks - Goaltending Questions, Dahlen, Kane, Megna, and Vlasic

Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News: Shark goaltender Adin Hill has basically missed the past three months with an injury. Last offseason they sent a 2022 2nd round pick and Josef Korenar to the Arizona Coyotes for Hill and a 2022 7th round pick. They traded for Kaapo Kahkonen at the deadline and have James Reimer with a year left on his contract.

Interim GM Joe Will said at the trade deadline that they likely won’t go into next season with three goaltenders. Reimer is having a good season and is the most experienced of the three. Reimer is 34-years old and both Hill and Kahkonen are 26.

“Like a lot of other things that we have, things will be fluid in the summer,” Will said last month. “At (the goalie) position, our group of forwards and our group of defensemen, there will be changes.

“I don’t know exactly what they are, but we’ll determine that by, number one, by watching players over the next quarter of the season, and number two with opportunities that we may have in the summer.”

Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now: San Jose Sharks pending RFA forward Jonathan Dahlen plans on playing for the Sharks and not returning back to Sweden according to some rumors. Dahlin’s agent Claes Elefalk.

“Jonathan Dahlen’s priority is to play for the San Jose Sharks in the No. 1 league in the world.”

Corey Masisak of The Athletic: (mailbag) The San Jose Sharks will be looking to hire a GM at some point. They will also be on the lookout for some scoring help this offseason.

The Sharks will sign RFA goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen at some point. James Reimer and Adin Hill are also under contract for next year. Reimer likely has more trade value than Hill but then they’d be going with two less proven goaltenders. Hill’s injuries may scare some teams off. Think that Reimer will most likely be dealt but it would likely come down to what offers they get for any of the three.

There is still no update on the Evander Kane grievance. For now, he’s off the books but an arbitrator or courts could rule differently.

Jaycob Megna is a UFA at the end of the year and may not be back, He’s currently number two on their left-defense depth chart behind Mario Ferraro.

After the 2024 season and when Martin Jones buyout number decreases by a million, that may be when the Sharks potentially look at the idea of buyout defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and his $7 million cap hit. In 2023 his no-movement clause converts to a three-team no-trade clause.

If they bought out Vlasic this offseason, they’d save $3.3 million in cap space next year, then years of $5.6 million, $2.8 million, $1.8 million and four years of $1.7 million.

Freeing up some cap space for a Timo Meier extension may be a good idea.

The first buyout period runs from July 1st to 12th. If they take an RFA to salary arbitration, they’ll have a second buyout window later in the offseason.