{"id":201460,"date":"2026-03-03T01:58:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/201460\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T01:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:58:25","slug":"san-jose-sharks-open-to-trading-kiefer-sherwood-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/201460\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks Open To Trading Kiefer Sherwood \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Jose Sharks \u201care now open\u201d to trading winger Kiefer Sherwood<\/a> before the NHL trade deadline comes on Friday, per The Athletic\u2019s Chris Johnston<\/a>. The Sharks have been unable to secure Sherwood\u2019s signature on a contract extension to this point, and it appears that, \u201crather than risking losing him for nothing,\u201d the team is considering flipping Sherwood just six weeks after acquiring him from the Vancouver Canucks.<\/p>\n

Sherwood was dealing with an upper-body injury when he was dealt from the Canucks, an injury that kept him sidelined for nearly a month. He got into San Jose\u2019s final game before the Olympic break, and has played in their three games since returning.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s certainly a challenge for some offensive players to change teams and keep up their production, as so much of creating offense in the NHL is based on instincts and chemistry, something that can take time to develop in a new environment, the Sharks have undoubtedly placed Sherwood in a position to succeed. He played their most recent game on the team\u2019s top line, skating alongside Macklin Celebrini<\/a>, who is one of the game\u2019s foremost young talents, and another emerging star in Will Smith<\/a>. Despite that favorable deployment, and heavy power play time, Sherwood hasn\u2019t been able to register on the scoresheet as a Shark.<\/p>\n

His performance in the admittedly small sample of games in San Jose is notable, but what\u2019s far more notable is the difficulty the team has had signing Sherwood to an extension. A team is unlikely to consider flipping a player just because he\u2019s taking some time to adjust to new surroundings and rediscover his production, but the threat of losing a player as a UFA is a far more pressing concern.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In January, we covered reports<\/a> coming out of San Jose suggesting there was a \u201csizable gap\u201d between Sherwood\u2019s demands on his new contract, and what the Sharks were willing to commit to him.<\/p>\n

According to The Mercury News\u2019 Curtis Pashelka<\/a>, \u201cSherwood\u2019s next contract is expected to carry an AAV of at least $5 million.\u201d AFP Analytics projects<\/a> Sherwood\u2019s next contract to be worth $5.7MM annually on a five-year term.<\/p>\n

It appears that, for as much as the Sharks value Sherwood\u2019s unique value proposition as an NHL player, they may not be willing to invest so heavily in his future.<\/p>\n

As recently as 2022-23, Sherwood was widely considered more of an AHL player. He was one of the AHL\u2019s best players in 2021-22, scoring 36 goals and 75 points in 57 games. After signing with the Nashville Predators organization, Sherwood continued his high-scoring ways with their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, before earning 32 NHL games with the Predators.<\/p>\n

He became a full-time NHL player the following season, and in Nashville, he was able to fully flesh out the on-ice identity that has since made him such a unique player. While he was a top scorer in the AHL, in the NHL, he began to gain more of a reputation as a physical bottom-sixer, someone who could deliver hits, get under the skin of opponents, and generally make his line a difficult one to play against.<\/p>\n

After signing with the Canucks, his value took a leap, as he began to translate his AHL production to the NHL. He scored 19 goals and 40 points in 2024-25, and began the year with 17 goals and 23 points before the trade. The Sharks surrendered two second-round picks and AHL defenseman Cole Clayton<\/a> to acquire Sherwood, and it\u2019s unclear whether they\u2019d be able to receive similar value if they elected to flip him.<\/p>\n

There is some recent precedent for a team acquiring, and then flipping, a player. While Mikko Rantanen<\/a> is certainly in an entirely different tier of on-ice value, limiting the applicability of the comparison, his situation with the Carolina Hurricanes last year is worth mentioning here. Once it became clear to the Hurricanes that Rantanen would not be signing an extension in Raleigh, they flipped him to the Dallas Stars and received emerging young center Logan Stankoven<\/a>, two first-round picks, and two third-round picks.<\/p>\n

Whether that package is similar in value to what the Hurricanes surrendered to get Rantanen is a matter of debate, but it\u2019s clear that even with diminished leverage, the Hurricanes were still able to get several high-end assets for Rantanen.<\/p>\n

If the Sharks elect to flip Sherwood, will their diminished leverage cause them to opt for an offer lesser than what they traded away? That\u2019s the key question, and one that will be interesting to interrogate if Sherwood is traded. If he isn\u2019t dealt, that could be an indication that, given the offers that may have been on the table, San Jose believes keeping Sherwood as a rental player is a more attractive path forward than recouping some future assets.<\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Jose Sharks \u201care now open\u201d to trading winger Kiefer Sherwood before the NHL trade deadline comes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[41681,46268,404,88,90,89,98,10559],"class_list":{"0":"post-201460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-kiefer-sherwood","9":"tag-newsstand","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-san-jose","12":"tag-san-jose-headlines","13":"tag-san-jose-news","14":"tag-san-jose-sharks","15":"tag-trade-deadline"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}