Hertl Extension

[Brewin Flames]

San Jose Sharks Closing In On Long-Term Extension With Tomas Hertl

MARCH 16, 2022 AT 3:49 PM CDT | BY GAVIN LEE 

The San Jose Sharks have maintained throughout the early part of the season that they would work hard to extend Tomas Hertl instead of trading him, and it appears as though they may follow through on that promise. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that the two sides are working to finalize an eight-year extension that would keep Hertl in San Jose through the 2029-30 season. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet adds that the contract is expected to carry an average annual value of around $8MM.

Hertl, 28, is in the final season of a four-year, $22.5MM contract signed in 2018 that carries a cap hit of $5.625MM. Notably, that deal includes a no-trade clause that allows the Sharks’ forward to block deals to all but three teams in the league. That would have made trading him even more difficult, though there never did seem to be an appetite for a split from either party.

 

While he has slowed down considerably over the last two months, Hertl is still having an excellent season with 25 goals and 48 points in 59 games for the Sharks, trailing only Timo Meier in terms of offensive output. He’s now being rewarded for his strong play with a contract very similar to captain Logan Couture, the team’s other star center that carries much of the offensive load. With Evander Kane’s contract off the books (pending a grievance), the Sharks did have some extra cap space to spend.

 

Still, signing another big-money, long-term deal will certainly raise eyebrows. The Sharks aren’t really in the playoff race this season and now have five players on the books through at least 2024-25 at a cap hit of $7MM or more. Hertl is actually the youngest of that group and is still now signed through his age-36 season. It’s hard to really know what direction the team is going; maybe those veteran talents are enough to carry them to the next level, or perhaps they’re going to turn into anchors that keep the Sharks at the bottom of the Pacific for years to come.

 

At any rate, Hertl gets to stay with the only franchise he’s ever known, and continue to pile up points as one of the team’s most important players. He has scored 371 points in his 562-game career, numbers that already put him seventh among the Sharks’ all-time scoring leaders. He has a long way to go to catch some of the players in front of him–Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton lead the group at 1,111 and 1,055 points respectively–but another eight years could very well mean he spends his entire career in San Jose.

For the rest of the NHL, a top trade target comes off the board, making other centers all the more valuable before Monday’s deadline. If teams were interested in the Sharks forward, they’ll have to pivot over the next few days.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Verstatile, productive, team leader, and still only 28.
Sharks have the cap space and would probably not want to go into a full rebuild mode, thus keeping Hertl on would be a smart decision.

If things go sideways over the next two or three years, Hertl could always waive (I am assuming some sort of NTC or NMC will be included) to go elsewhere then, but in the meantime, the Sharks can try to 'retool' to try and extend the life of their current core and vets, maybe have a goalie step up (or they find one elsewhere), and they can still get something from a team that includes an aging Brent Burns and an Erik Karlsson, that, at just 31, has been mostly a non factor as he has fought with injuries and balancing his game on the ice when he is in there.

But in a glut of issues facing the Sharks as they try to stay competitive, Tomas Hertl is certainly a bright spot.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Looks like the deal is official.

8.1M AAV for 8 years.
Full No Move for the first three years, modified NMC for the last five.

The AAV is pretty much expected, as Couture is at 8M, Burns is too.
Timo Meier will be needing a new contract (currently at 6M) after next season...probably another 8 there.

So stands to reason, Tomas Hertl would get that, as he is just as valuable, maybe more so in some respects, than some of those guys.

[J0e Th0rnton]

Im happy with it.

 

Hertl, Meier, Eklund is still a nice trio, Couture can still be 2nd line C effectively. Karlsson still has gas in the tank and has played very well this year when healthy. The rest of our D outside Karlsson/Ferraro needs a makeover.

Realistically, they need to buy out vlasic and trade Burns with 2 million retention(lots of team would perk up if Burns only made 6 million) and the situation isn't that bad.

[ruxpin]

9 minutes ago, J0e Th0rnton said:

Im happy with it.

 

Hertl, Meier, Eklund is still a nice trio, Couture can still be 2nd line C effectively. Karlsson still has gas in the tank and has played very well this year when healthy. The rest of our D outside Karlsson/Ferraro needs a makeover.

Realistically, they need to buy out vlasic and trade Burns with 2 million retention(lots of team would perk up if Burns only made 6 million) and the situation isn't that bad.

It's a good core.   Sharks need a goalie.  Do they have anyone coming or will they need to go outside?

[J0e Th0rnton]

2 hours ago, ruxpin said:

It's a good core.   Sharks need a goalie.  Do they have anyone coming or will they need to go outside?

Outside for sure. But im OK with Reimer and Hill for another year of growth. Eklund should make the Squad full time next year too.