Trading Timo Meier might have been an easy decision for the Sharks. Now comes the hard part
The San Jose Sharks received two high draft picks, two forwards that are on their roster right now, and two young defensemen as part of the massive trade earlier this month that sent winger Timo Meier to the New Jersey Devils.
But as much time as Sharks general manager Mike Grier and his staff spent crafting that trade, trying to maximize value for the power forward, sending Meier to the Devils might have been the easy part of the equation.
Now the Sharks need to find a way to replace him.
The Sharks have promising forwards in the pipeline but don’t have anybody in the system quite like Meier, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound bull who figures to be a 35-40 goal scorer in the NHL for years to come. He was an easy fit on the Sharks’ first line with Tomas Hertl, was far and away the leading goal-scorer on the top power-play unit, and had a powerful frame built to dish and absorb punishment.
“Timo is a unique player in this league,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “You’re talking about a guy who’s built like Bo Jackson, skates like the wind, has got some snarl to him, can shoot it and make a play. He’s a true power forward. There was a reason that he was in such high demand and why we got what we got for him.”
Going into their home game Saturday against the Minnesota Wild, the Sharks, since the Meier trade on Feb. 26, are 1-5-0. In that time, their average of 2.00 goals per game ranks 30th out of 32 teams, and the 4.83 goals per game they’ve allowed ranks 31st.
“It is going to be hard to replace the individual. But right now, we’re not in a position for one guy to do it,” Quinn said. “I think it’s going to have to be by committee, and it may not be right now, it may come here in the next year or two.”
Someone who might be able to help fill some of that void — in time — is William Eklund, as he’s been used as Hertl’s left-wing since the March 3 trade deadline.
Although there have been some hiccups, Eklund this season has generally displayed the traits that made him the seventh-overall pick in the 2021 draft: great hockey sense, speed, easy skill, and a commitment to playing a two-way game.
Eklund has one assist in four games since he was recalled by the Sharks, averaging close to 20 minutes of ice time per night.
Eklund had a career-high 22:17 on Thursday against St. Louis, a 4-2 Sharks loss, but it was the best that Hertl and Eklund have looked together. The pair, along with right-wing Fabian Zetterlund, had a combined nine shots on net as Hertl scored his 18th goal of the season, albeit after a nifty set-up by Alexander Barabanov.
Per Natural Stat Trick, the line of Hertl, Eklund, and Zetterlund out-chanced the Blues 7-3 during 5-on-5 play and had a 3-1 edge in high-danger chances.
Maybe Eklund won’t fit on Hertl’s line long-term. But he is a top-six forward with all kinds of potential and he projects to be a full-time NHL player by next season.
“He’s a smart kid, trying to work hard. He’s smart with the puck, making small little plays,” Hertl said Thursday of Eklund. “He has to just keep working like he’s working now. I believe in him. He’s got a big future for us.”
Eklund had one shot on net Thursday — a breakaway chance stopped by Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.
“We’re trying to learn where each other goes, and today I think we created a lot of chances where we made a lot of give-and-go plays,” Eklund said of Hertl. “Obviously he creates a lot of chances for me that I have to score. So, you just keep going like that.”
The Sharks have other forwards on their reserve list who have promise like 2022 draft picks Filip Bystedt and Cam Lund, and the Barracuda’s Thomas Bordeleau, Ozzy Wiesblatt, and Tristen Robins. They’re also in line to draft an impact forward this year, whether that’s Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson or Matvei Michkov, or someone else entirely.
The Sharks took a patient approach with Meier in his 20-year-old year, as he split time between the AHL and NHL in his first full season as a professional before he stayed with the Sharks full-time in 2017-18.
From the start of that season until he was traded, Meier was Sharks’ second-leading goal scorer with 140 goals. Now the Sharks have to find that kind of production from someone else.
“It’s never easy to replace a guy that I think is only scratching the surface,” Quinn said. “He had 35 (goals) last year and if he didn’t get hurt, he was certainly going to score 40 to 45 this year, maybe more.
“I think his best hockey’s ahead of him, so it’s not easy to replace a guy like that with one person, but sometimes you can do it through committee.”