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Dubnyk Traded, Sharks Looking to Add Goalie?

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Credit: NBCS Bay Area

The San Jose Sharks have traded Devan Dubnyk to the Colorado Avalanche for a 2021 fifth-round pick and Greg Pateryn.

It was the end of a brief run between the pipes in San Jose for Dubnyk. The 34-year-old veteran netminder was acquired from the Minnesota Wild in October 2020, along with a 2022 seventh-round draft pick, for a 2022 fifth-round draft pick and Minnesota retaining 50 percent of the impending UFA’s 4.33 million dollar cap hit.

Doug Wilson confirmed that the Avalanche took on the Sharks’ entire portion of Dubnyk’s cap hit.

So it looks like Wilson has recouped the fifth-round pick that he parted with for Dubnyk at no extra cost to the organization.

What does this mean for the San Jose Sharks?

Who Backs Up Jones?

About a month ago, it appears that Dubnyk had moved ahead of Martin Jones as San Jose’s number-one netminder. But since Mar. 13, Jones has peeled off a 8-2-1 record with a .936 Save %, re-asserting his claim as the Sharks’ main man.

With Dubnyk gone, the back-up seat in San Jose is empty. Does Josef Korenar or Alexei Melnichuk have the inside track?

“The plan is to give these guys games, both of them,” Bob Boughner said.

He continued, on the young netminders: “Two guys who are very athletic, very aggressive.

“They’re big parts of this organization in the future and our goaltending position, we’re looking forward to hopefully playing great hockey around them and surrounding them with some good structure and letting them do their jobs.”

Of course, there’s just one back-up job with the San Jose Sharks.

Which Goalie Joins Taxi Squad?

The San Jose Sharks are required to have at least two goalies on their 23-man roster. They’re also required to have at least one goalie on the taxi squad, unless they have three on their 23-man roster.

Per Puckpedia, these goalies are all required to be signed to NHL contracts. So for example, Zach Sawchenko, signed to an AHL contract with the San Jose Barracuda, wouldn’t qualify.

Currently, San Jose has four goalies signed to NHL contracts: Jones, Korenar, Melnichuk, and Zachary Emond.

That math works out for two of these goalies to be on the 23-man roster and one on the taxi squad. But…

“We want to make sure they’re playing,” Wilson shared. “The taxi squad, while it’s unique to the season, you don’t want young players sitting there and not playing.

“We’ll create the flexibility of the opportunity for both Josef and Alexei to either be here or be back with the Barracuda. Preferably not sitting on a taxi squad.”

We can presume too that the Sharks want Emond to continue to develop in the QMJHL.

So this means, if the Sharks want Korenar and Melnichuk to avoid the taxi squad from hereonout, that they’ll need another NHL goalie for their taxi squad.

What About Greg?

30-year-old Greg Pateryn’s inclusion into this deal is something of a mystery.

“Greg is a good player,” Wilson said. “We’re looking forward to him coming and joining us.”

Boughner added: “He’s got physicality to his game.”

Wilson said that Pateryn’s wife Stephanie had just given birth, so it might be a little while before he joins the San Jose Sharks.

If he does.

Perhaps taking on the 6-foot-3 defender was part of the cost for the Avs to give up a fifth-round pick?

And while Wilson is sending signals that the organization is keeping Pateryn, it could also be gamesmanship from the veteran GM. San Jose does have, from Christian Jaros to Nicolas Meloche, a number of younger NHL-ready depth defenseman at their disposal right now.

So it would make sense for San Jose to re-route the 30-year-old defenseman, if possible.

On the other hand, here’s an argument for keeping Pateryn.

Don’t forget that San Jose is still trying to compete for the West’s fourth and final playoff spot. Is Pateryn, who played top-four minutes in Dallas in 2017-18 and was a regular for Minnesota in 2018-19, an upgrade right now on a Jaros or Meloche, for example? He certainly has a lot more NHL experience under his belt.

I’m not sure – colleague Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now tells me that Pateryn may have slowed down a bit and he was put on waivers earlier this year – but Pateryn could be a case of taking on some money on an expiring contract and getting a useful player in return too.

It’s worth noting, the right-handed Pateryn could also provide veteran insurance in case Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s current upper-body injury lingers past the Trade Deadline.

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