Preview/Lines #58: Meier, Hertl Not Playing This Afternoon

No, the San Jose Sharks haven’t traded two thirds of their top line.

But Trade Deadline darling Timo Meier is out with an upper-body injury, suffered in the second period on Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres. Head coach David Quinn is optimistic that Meier will be ready for Thursday’s tilt against the Nashville Predators.

By the way, I did see Meier in the SAP Center hallways, so at the moment, he’s still with San Jose.

And last year’s Trade Deadline darling Tomas Hertl is out for personal reasons. Quinn seems fairly certain that Hertl would be available for Thursday’s contest.

In their stead, the San Jose Sharks called up winger Martin Kaut and defenseman Nick Cicek. Kaut, the Colorado Avalanche’s 2018 first-round pick, acquired by San Jose for Ryan Merkley last month, will be making his Sharks debut.

The Sharks will also run 11 forwards-7 defensemen this afternoon.

This afternoon seemed like an opportunity for the Sharks to call up top prospects William Eklund or Thomas Bordeleau, but Quinn said that Hertl’s situation arose this morning, and the Barracuda are currently in Abbotsford.

San Jose Sharks (17-29-11)

James Reimer will make his first start since Jan. 27. Projected Sharks lines:

#SJSharks lines this afternoon, Reimer starts, Hertl/Meier out, Kaut makes Sharks debut:

Eyssimont-Couture-Barabanov
Gregor-Bonino-Kaut
Lindblom-Sturm-Labanc
MacDonald-Lorentz-Svechnikov

Harrington-Karlsson
Vlasic-Benning
Ferraro-Cicek

Reimer

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) February 20, 2023

Seattle Kraken (32-18-6)

Looks like Martin Jones is starting for Seattle. First start at the Tank since he was bought out, I believe

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) February 20, 2023

Lineups for both teams pic.twitter.com/PvaaViLnxC

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) February 20, 2023

Where to Watch

The San Jose Sharks will take on the Seattle Kraken at 1 PM PST at SAP Center. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.