Tomas Hertl’s trade to Vegas sent earthquakes through the Sharks fanbase and organization alike, with the franchise opting to move the last valuable piece left over from its glory years.
Hertl had been a fan favorite in San Jose from the minute he made his NHL debut in 2013. A Sharks lifer, he represented one of the few remaining figures left over from the team’s winning days. With Logan Couture’s long-term NHL future questionable given his injuries, Hertl was perhaps the single most important and influential figure on the ice for the Sharks organization.
What’s more, his performance levels had remained remarkably consistent this year despite the Sharks being mired in the depths of their worst season this century. With 15 goals and 19 assists in 48 games, he was perhaps the only true top-six forward on the team. At 30 years of age, it was conceivable that he would still be around for the next contending team that the Sharks would ice.
However, Hertl also made it clear that he wanted to win. In context, General Manager Mike Grier’s decision to trade Hertl makes more sense.
San Jose received David Edstrom and a 2025 first-round pick from the Golden Knights. With Edstrom, the Sharks are getting a solid prospect who projects as a two-way, middle-six center with a bit of offensive upside.
Per Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, who ranked him as the Golden Knights’ top prospect this year, the 6-foot-3 Swede would have been the fifth best prospect in the Sharks’ current pool and has a surprisingly effective skating stride, with penalty-killing and power-play upside alike. He was arguably Sweden’s best prospect at the U18 World Juniors in 2022 and rapidly rose up the draft boards as a result of his incredible stretch run.
Both Filip Bystedt and Edstrom look likely to make the NHL, and I would be surprised if they didn’t at least turn into bottom-six centers. They both project as very similar types of players, though Edstrom probably has more two-way upside than Bystedt does, and they are on similar developmental timelines. By the time the Sharks are ready to ice a playoff-level team, both of them should be established NHLers.
It’s worth stopping for a second to consider just how deep the San Jose prospect pool has become. With four first-round picks over the next two years (two Sharks picks, a potentially high Pittsburgh pick, and Vegas’ unprotected first), the pipeline has never looked stronger. Importantly, many of the Sharks’ prospects are on a similar developmental timeline, meaning that the team’s improvements could be exponential rather than linear.
With Will Smith, William Eklund, Quentin Musty, Daniil Gushchin, Luca Cagnoni and Shakir Mukhamadullin leading a strong pipeline, and Thomas Bordeleau, Edstrom and Bystedt creating some valuable depth, the addition of four more top prospects should put San Jose in prime position to contend. It ensures that the team will likely have talent all across the lineup at cost-controlled rates. By shedding the hefty contracts of Hertl and Karlsson while retaining minimal salary, the team has also ensured that it will be able to pay its future stars when needed without sacrificing future assets at inopportune times, which should lengthen its eventual contending window considerably.
We’ve seen teams like Toronto, Carolina, New Jersey, and Florida do this extremely effectively in the past, and their rebuilds could serve as a template for the Sharks. This move makes an incredible amount of sense for Grier’s long-term vision and is unquestionably the right decision for both the team and the player.
Just don’t ask me how I feel about it right now.
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