A quick trade note before we jump into things. General Manager Mike Grier sent a 3rd round pick in 2024 to the Anaheim Ducks for the rights to Henry Thrun today. Thurn is a 21-year-old defenseman currently playing for Harvard University.
Anaheim picked up Thrun 101st overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft but has since been unable to sign him.
Thrun had 26 points (5 goals, 21 assists) in 28 games with Harvard this season and served as the team’s captain.
With Timo Meier now a member of the New Jersey Devils, the San Jose Sharks (18-30-12, 7th in the Pacific Division) are in full out Tank for Bedard mode. One of the foes in the battle for the bottom spot in the NHL is the Montreal Canadiens (25-30-4, 8th in the Atlantic Division).
Despite the dismal season, the Canadiens have been quiet at the trade deadline to date. The team traded Denis Gurianov to the Dallas Stars for Evgenii Dadanov and claimed Chris Tierney off of waivers on Feb. 23.
The trouble for Montreal is that the key pending free agents that would likely yield the most return, like Sean Monahan and Joel Edmundson, are injured. Jonathan Drouin is healthy, but he’s only recently come off the injured reserve.
On the Sharks’ side of things. The big trades are reportedly done. Erik Karlsson says no one has talked to him about waiving his no-move clause, so he doesn’t expect to be dealt before the deadline.
Smaller pieces like Nick Bonino and James Reimer may still find new homes before Friday’s deadline, but there are no more big deals expected to be done.
We’ll see two of the pieces of the Meier deal in tonight’s game. Andreas Johnsson and Fabian Zetterlund are expected to suit up for the Sharks and serve as wingers to Tomas Hertl.
San Jose Sharks
STATS
Record: 18-30-12
Streak: L2
Goals Leader: Logan Couture (20 G, 29A)
Assists Leader: Erik Karlsson (19 G, 58 A)
Power Play: 18.6%
Penalty Kill: 83.6%
Goals For/60: 2.97
Goals Against/60: 3.62
LINES
Michael Eyssimont – Logan Couture – Alexander Barabanov
Fabian Zetterlund – Tomas Hertl – Andreas Johnsson
Nick Bonino – Nico Sturm – Evgeny Svechnikov
Oskar Lindblom – Steven Lorentz – Noah Gregor
Mario Ferraro – Erik Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Matt Benning
Radim Simek – Jacob MacDonald
Kaapo Kahkonen
James Reimer
Expected Scratches: Jonah Gadjovich, Kevin Labanc
Injured Reserve: Luke Kunin (knee), Markus Nutivaara (lower body)
Montreal Canadiens
STATS
Record: 25-30-4
Streak: L1
Goals Leader: Cole Caufield (26 G, 10 A)
Assists Leader: Nick Suzuki (20 G, 26 A)
Power Play: 16.7%
Penalty Kill: 73.8%
Goals For/60: 2.69
Goals Against/60: 3.63
LINES
Mike Hoffman – Nick Suzuki – Denis Gurianov
Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jonathan Drouin – Josh Anderson
Rem Pitlick – Christian Dvorak – Jesse Ylonen
Michael Pezzetta – Chris Tierney – Alex Belzile
Michael Matheson – Justin Barron
Kaiden Guhle – David Savard
Jordan Harris – Johnathan Kovacevic
Jake Allen
Samuel Montembeault
Expected Scratches: None
Injured Reserve: Sean Monahan (lower body), Cole Caufield (right shoulder), Juraj Slafkovsky (lower body), Brendan Gallagher (lower body), Kirby Dach (lower body), Jake Evans (lower body) , Arber Xhekaj (shoulder), Joel Edmundson (day-to-day), Joel Armia (Illness), Chris Wideman (upper body), Paul Byron (hip)
How to Watch
Tonight’s game will be broadcast regionally on NBCSCA. Streaming is available with a subscription to ESPN+ (blackout restrictions may apply). The radio call will be streamed through the Sharks Audio Network. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET at SAP Center in San Jose.
In Canada, you can watch on TSN (English), RDS (French).
Check back then to follow along with all of the play-by-play action in the comment section below!
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