San Jose Sharks
BREAKING: Sharks Trade for Nedeljkovic
The San Jose Sharks have found their goaltending partner for Yaroslav Askarov.
The Sharks have acquired Alex Nedeljkovic from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2028 third-round pick.
Nedeljkovic, 29, has backstopped the Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, and Carolina Hurricanes.
Last year for the Pens, he went 14-15-5 and posted an .894 Save %. Nedeljkovic also made history in January, when he became the first goalie to record a goal and an assist in a game.
He’s got one year left at $2.5 million AAV before he becomes a UFA.
For his career, the 6-foot-0 netminder has a 74-60-27 record and a .903 Save %. He was a Calder Trophy finalist in 2020-21, finishing third, and was also named to the All-Rookie Team.
He’s played over 35 games in a season three times, which should make him a solid San Jose Sharks 1B to star-in-the-making Askarov.
Nedeljkovic has also played for San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky with the Charlotte Checkers, in 2018-19 when Warsofsky was assistant coach and 2019-20 when Warsofsky was head coach.
Really wondering what GMMG is thinking today as Perbix went out for not so much and Granlund went at a lot less than what SJS could afford.
But I do like this move. Nedeljkovic is a pretty good fit for this situation. Its tough playing behind the Sharks defense, but the Pens weren’t much better and his modest stats likely reflect that.
Hope to see Askarov in the 40-something GP this season and Nedeljkovic is capable of playing a similar number.
He’s thinking this was an extremely underwhelming free agent pool. And it is. This is not the year to spend big. It’s very simple.
whatever one thinks of the ‘pool’, you don’t sign the ‘pool’. You sign individuals.
someones getting traded because we are in danger of becoming Sabres west and no matter how much cap space we have nobody is going to want to sign up for this. We’re going to have to trade for players to play Defense
At least in the near future until or if all our prospects pan out.
It’s possible he underestimated the extent to which he would have to overpay somebody like Perbix to come here. Honestly the team is so bad right now, the player side may not even call back with counteroffers if they see something else on the table.
Obviously, that’s speculation since we don’t know who he called and what numbers he put out there. But given the glaring needs, one would think Grier was at least trying on at least some of the depth veterans.
Nooo we failed to land the great Nick Perbix. We will flounded in mediocrity for failing to bolster our third d-pair.
You gotta fix what you can fix. A RHD is not nothing. If you go into free agency like “if it’s not Cale Makar I don’t care” then you’re probably going to miss some opportunities to address needs.
sounds like a typical mindless gen-z response, thinking you’re making a point by making fun of someone’s comment by implying that a wanted target wasn’t going to do anything. You gotta try for attainable targets. You aren’t getting Ekblad or anything close to that tier of defenseman, but you need to get guys that can improve upon the defense so you’re not a complete sieve on the backend, which leads to demoralized goalies and young, developing players. useless comment that only dweebs could upvote
They have to want to sign in SJ and playing for a winner or potential winner still matters. Many think the Preds will rebound to at least respect next season.
My thinking on Perbix is that he wanted more opportunity, but not to be thrown to the wolves. He took a show-me deal in a great city playing behind a Norris caliber defenseman. It’s a much better situation for him in terms of upping his value and hitting the market again quickly. With Granlund, the Sharks could have easily outbid and didn’t. This says two things to me — first, that salary structure is important to Grier, which is likely why we didn’t see the big overpays many were hoping for. Second, Grier wants to keep roster spots open in… Read more »
Hmm…Goalies are weird, and it’s hard to project when they’re gonna have a breakout season, but hopefully it Nedeljkovic will be able to provide stability in the way that Blackwood did. Basically, we need a hero to prevent the morale-crushing blowout losses. Losing by one goal, feeling like we’re in it until the last minute, that’s all super important to fostering the “competitive environment” that the Sharks are looking to build. We had that with Blackwood, and hopefully we have it again in Nedelijkovic. Time will tell.
Colour me underwhelmed.
I kind of have to chuckle.
for the 2026-27 season, as of now, the Sharks have 6 forwards, 1 goalie and 0 d-men signed.
Lotta prospects not on the roster and those aren’t counted, so there’s a lot of spots to fill. But I did think the FA period would add some guys on deals of more than 1 season. Of the 4 players acquired so far, only Gaudette’s deal runs beyond this season.
I like this pickup. He was highly touted but has been on underwhelming teams for awhile now. With Speer and company working with him, this could be a great deal.
A 2028 3rd round pick is a very low price for Nedeljkovic. Good trade by GMMG.
Wait. The Sharks gave the Penguins a 3rd for Ned? Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?
Had he still been on the Red Wings then yes.
Yes, it’s a low price and probably is how much he’s worth. Very underwhelming for me to see Grier not be more aggressive in free agency. Vanacek seems more capable than Nedeljkovic and he gave him away, too. He’s going to have to do something very clever to regain any real credibility at being GM.
As it appears GMMG wrestling match with the cap floor is unlikely to have a satisfactory result, I’ll offer this. EDM trades Nurse, Sharks retain 50% of Nurse’s $$. Nurse is a boat anchor at $9.5mil AAV and it lingers for 5 more seasons. But at half that price, he’s worth a solid return. Perhaps a 1st and a 2nd. it frees up a ton of cap space for a team in “win now” mode. The Sharks get a pick in each year from 2027 to 2031. 1 first (pick the year) and four 2nds. its a big cap hit… Read more »
Hopefully, as the contenders finish signing players and start looking at tidying up their cap situation, there will be opportunities like that. I do think the rising cap will take away some of the chances.
I think its better to take on a 1-2 year LTIRetired player and I suspect thats what will happen. Price and Krug seem like the obvious ones.
When does the new CBA kick in? Because I heard Friedman on 32 say that you have to keep the player for 75 days now to retain salary in a 3-team trade deal. Could have heard/understood that wrong though.
Huh? How is Edmonton going to improve with no one left to sign? Edmonton is not giving up a 1st for someone to retain. They’d be doing the Sharks a favor in your scenario and could find another team to do it for less. It would be a bidding war going the wrong way.
Sharks are better off paying a $5mil penalty for being under and having a reduced ceiling next season than paying half of nurses contract for 5 years.
Ehlers
You and Grier definitely don’t share the same mindset here. Dude doesn’t even want to hand out three year deals, he’s not taking on a boat anchor that will last years into Celebrini/Smith’s tenures.
That’s just chicken-hearted of him. 3 years is not exactly an anchor for this team. Grier is timid. If we wind up with another shite year in the cellar, I’ll call for his head everyday.
Solid 1B acquisition. Happy with this.
Klingberg and Kurashev signed too
Placeholders?
Good move on Ned. Still need Def. Klingberg not going to get it done. Need scoring too. Kurashev and Audette not scorers. Unimpressed so far…
Long way to go…
Gaudette had 19 goals last season. That’s very respectable for a bottom 6 forward. That would have made him the third highest scorer on the Sharks last season. Kurashev is also a depth signing. He was a down year but had 54 points two years ago. People forget Granlund wasn’t much better when he came here from the Penguins as a salary cap dump. There’s potential opportunity with these guys.
Gaudette had a 21% shooting percentage. Expecting him to repeat anywhere near that shooting percentage going forward would likely be a pretty huge mistake.
Fair. But he also had 90 shots playing 10 minutes a night. He might not be able to sustain the shooting percentage, but with better and higher quality minutes he may well match the production.
Agreed. Not a bad signing for me.
Even if he regresses and ends up with 13 or 14 goals, it would be a valuable add if we are talking about a bottom 6 role with a $2mil AAV.
Fundamentally, the big difference still need to come from youngsters like Celebrini and Smith. It’s really their team.
As of now vs October 2024 opening night Macklin – Macklin Smith – Smith Wennberg – Wennberg Eklund – Eklund Toffoli – Toffoli Dellandrea – Dellandrea Goodrow – Goodrow Sturm – Kurashev Zetterlund – Graf Granlund – Gaudette Kunin Gushchin – Grundstrom Mario – Mario Thrun – Thrun Ceci – Klingberg Benning – Liljegren Rutta – Desharnais Walman – Mukh Blackwood – Askarov Vanacek – Nedeljkovic I know there’s more work to do, but one can argue this roster is somewhat worse than what started last season. One can expect Celebrini and Smith to be better than the prior season.… Read more »
fwiw, I’m one of the very few up here who thinks 2025-26 is NOT the year to try and make a big upgrade. It appears that’s where this is headed. I’m far more interested in the pipeline because there will be a talent surge over the next several seasons. it’ll take time to play out and GMMG can make the bigger moves when he knows where the holes are.
I was not looking for big upgrades either. If this team really wants to splurge, next summer has better options. But I was hoping Grier would bring in a little more experience. I think it’s fair to expect the future franchise players like Celebrini and Smith to lead the improvement, but right now it seems like even if they improve the team might regress for lack of help.
But you never know. Opportunities could still pop up. Hopefully Grier is in on Bowen Byram.
Definitely not a very fun comparison right now. Still lots of time left. I’d say one of my biggest concerns right now is that we just do not have enough Top 6 wingers. It’s basically just Eklund and Toffoli. How are we supposed to get Smith (or Misa) reps at 2C when we have no solid wingers to insulate them?