SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Sharks got a peek at what their lineup looks like without Timo Meier — and Tomas Hertl, for that matter — on Monday as they continued a season-long homestand.
It ended up as one of the Sharks’ more complete efforts of the year. Logan Couture, Evgeny Svechnikov, and Noah Gregor all scored in the second period, and goalie James Reimer earned his second shutout this season as the Sharks beat the Seattle Kraken 4-0 before an announced matinee holiday crowd of 13,445 at SAP Center.
Mikey Eyssimont scored an empty net goal to round out the scoring for San Jose, which ended a three-game skid and improved to 6-15-7 on home ice this year.
“I thought from the get-go we were on our toes,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “We were playing an aggressive style. We were on the attack. From top to bottom, I really liked our effort.”
The Kraken had only been shut out two other times this season and remains the fifth-highest-scoring group in the NHL with an average of 3.46 goals per game.
“We’ve had a couple of really solid games start to finish this year and this is one of them,” said Reimer, who finished with 26 saves. “Blocking shots, making hard plays, making smart plays. How smart we were with the puck, our positioning, and even our sticks I thought were great.”
Meier is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury but should be available when the Sharks host the Nashville Predators on Thursday, Quinn said. Hertl missed the game for personal reasons, Quinn said, but was not expected to be out past Monday.
Quinn said Meier was injured in the second period of the Sharks’ game with the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. Meier was able to finish the game, but started to feel worse overnight and did not practice Sunday.
Meier had played in all 57 Sharks games this season and with 31 goals and 53 points, has obviously been a focal point around the NHL with the March 3 trade deadline now less than two weeks away.
Meier, a pending restricted free agent, is widely considered the best player available as Stanley Cup-contending teams look to stock up for the final few weeks of the regular season before the start of the playoffs.
The Sharks, with more long-term aspirations, are looking to add draft picks and to supplement a prospect pool that could use some improvement.
Teams that appear to be the most interested in Meier include the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes, but other teams could still emerge.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned on his latest “32 Thoughts” podcast that Sharks general manager Mike Grier might be slow-playing his hand, waiting as long as possible to see what he can extract from other teams before he finalizes any trade that involves Meier.
The Sharks (18-29-11), now 18 points out of a playoff spot, know it’s just a matter of time before Meier, and perhaps others, are traded. Reimer and forward Nick Bonino are pending unrestricted free agents. Forward Matt Nieto and defenseman Jaycob Megna have already been dealt. Megna started for Seattle on Monday.
“We know what we signed up for,” Quinn said. “Being a general manager is not an easy job, regardless of your situation. You’ve hard decisions to make and rest assured, the decisions Mike makes will be well thought out.
“We’re very fortunate to have our organization in (Grier’s) hands because I’ve liked a lot of things that we’ve done up to this point. I like the way we go about doing things. There’s a real attention to detail. So it’s going to be a fun 10 days.”
Monday’s game marked the first time since March 8, 2021, that the Sharks had played without both Meier and Hertl, the team’s forwards from a production and ice time standpoint.
Without Meier and Hertl, the Sharks recalled Martin Kaut from the Barracuda and moved defenseman Jacob MacDonald to forward, as he played on the fourth line with Steven Lorentz and Svechnikov, who also assisted on Gregor’s goal.
“Obviously when we showed up here we got the news that (Hertl) was going to be out,” Couture said. “It’s the way this business goes, guys come in and out of the lineup, and different things happen.”
Seattle is the only team the Sharks face on the rest of the homestand that is actually in a playoff position. San Jose also hosts Nashville, Chicago, Montreal, St. Louis and Washington over the next 12 days.
Kaut has one goal and five assists with the Barracuda, the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, since he and defenseman Jacob MacDonald was acquired from Colorado on Jan. 25 as part of a trade that sent Matt Nieto and Ryan Merkley to the Avalanche.
Kaut had a goal and an assist in 27 games with the Avalanche this season. He has six points and three goals in 47 career NHL contests.
A candid Kaut, who arrived in the Bay Area late Sunday night after he had been in British Columbia with the Barracuda, said he had probably requested a trade from the Avalanche “five times” since he was drafted by the team in the first round in 2018.
Kaut had three points in 27 games with the Avalanche this season, averaging about nine minutes per game in ice time. In 47 games with Colorado over four years, Kaut had just six points and played 9:10 per game.
Kaut thought he was being misused by the Avalanche, saying he played out of position as a centerman and was often slotted on the fourth line.
“I’m a right wing,” Kaut said. “I played like four or five minutes a game. I know Colorado, they went out and won the Stanley Cup, so it’s really hard to make the top three lines. So that’s why I asked for a trade and I’m so happy to be here.”
