Former Sharks forward says Barracuda coach pressured him to fight
A former San Jose Sharks forward said he was pressured by a coach with the team’s AHL affiliate to fight opposing players, adding that it was a key factor in his decision not to re-sign with the organization.
Martin Kaut, whom the Sharks acquired from the Colorado Avalache in January, told the Czech website iDNES.cz in a story published Sunday that an unnamed Barracuda coach would choose an opponent, usually a fellow Czech-born player, before each game for him to fight. When Kaut refused, he said the coach responded by saying that his refusal was a reason why he wasn’t in the NHL.
Kaut in the story mentioned Adam Klapka, a Czech native who is listed at 6-foot-8 and 235 pounds and was credited with six AHL fighting majors this past season for the Calgary Wranglers. Kaut, listed at 6-2 and 190 pounds, has only two fighting majors in five seasons of North American professional hockey.
“They also chose Czechs for me. Why? It was one of the reasons why I didn’t want to continue in San Jose,” Kaut said, per the website, in comments translated to English.
Kaut, a former first-round pick in 2018, told the publication he has had three concussions and two shoulder injuries and that if he had fought the players the coach wanted him to fight, “I would have been injured.”
“He forced me into fights anyway,” Kaut said of the coach. “It really bothered me. I’d fight for a good reason, none of that. When a game is sold out, it escalates, or when you defend a teammate. But fighting someone just like that? I’m supposed to be on the ice (to score goals).”
The Sharks denied the allegations in an emailed statement: “We have been made aware of comments attributed to Martin Kaut stating that he was pressured to deliberately instigate a physical engagement with opposing players on the ice. Let us be unequivocally clear that no such direction was ever given or insinuated by the members of the Sharks or Barracuda coaching or hockey staffs.”
This past season, Kaut, 23, had 14 points and eight penalty minutes in 19 games with the Barracuda, and five points in nine games with the Sharks between Feb. 20 and March 30.
Per the translation, Kaut said the Barracuda told him that they “wanted to get something more out of me.”
“Maybe I made a mistake (leaving San Jose), but I don’t think the fights decided whether I was in the NHL,” he said. “In hockey, they are on the decline.”
Kaut’s only North American professional fights, according to hockeyfights.com, came in 2019 when he was with the Avalanche organization. He fought in one NHL preseason game in September of that year and once the following month in an AHL regular season game.
Kaut was drafted in the first round, 16th overall, by Colorado in 2018. He made his NHL debut with the Avalanche on Feb.19, 2020 and played 47 games with the team before he and defenseman Jacob MacDonald were traded to San Jose for forward Matt Nieto and defenseman Ryan Merkley on Jan. 25.
Kaut has 11 points and 10 penalty minutes in 56 NHL games. In 192 AHL games, Kaut has 113 points and 111 penalty minutes.
Kaut, a restricted free agent, was given a qualifying offer by the Sharks on June 30 but instead came to terms on a two-year contract earlier this month with HC Dynamo Pardubice, his former club in the Czech league. Kaut said in the interview with iDNES.cz that he was disheartened when the Sharks offered him a two-way contract worth approximately $100,000 at the AHL level to remain in San Jose.
Kaut said he would have liked more AHL money, “but it was not possible to negotiate. I didn’t expect a one-way ticket, I know I didn’t score enough points, but this offer disappointed me.”