REPORT: Sharks “Willing to Listen” on Every Player Except Hertl

Are the San Jose Sharks already calling it for the 2022-23 season?

According to Pierre LeBrun of TSN, just nine games into the season, the 2-7-0 Sharks have put up a “For Sale” sign on anybody not named Tomas Hertl.

“In talking with other teams around the league,” LeBrun said on TSN’s “Insider Trading” today, “the Sharks have let it be known that they’re willing to listen on pretty much every player on their roster other than perhaps Tomas Hertl, who just signed an eight-year extension last year.”

This includes, perhaps surprisingly, RFA Timo Meier, and the San Jose Sharks’ many new acquisitions, from Nico Sturm to Luke Kunin.

LeBrun added, “[The] Sharks’ payroll and roster right now has a bunch of guys, led by the likes of Erik Karlsson, with full no-move clauses. It’s going to be difficult for Mike Grier to enact the kind of change that he wants, but that’s his intention over the next couple years.”

Among the Sharks’ more expensive veterans, Hertl, Karlsson, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic currently have No-Movement Clauses, while Logan Couture has a three-team trade list.

Of course, we’ve heard this all before. The Sharks have missed the playoffs the last three years, so naturally, you’re not going to have many “untouchables.” I’m sure that Karlsson and his max $92 million dollar contract have been available for the last three seasons for the right price i.e. a price that nobody is willing to pay.

But what’s different now is that the San Jose Sharks have a new boss in GM Mike Grier. Will Grier be more aggressive than predecessor Doug Wilson with getting rid of contracts and finally <whisper> start the rebuild?