LAS VEGAS – The San Jose Sharks reportedly had some interest in bringing in Ilya Mikheyev from the Vancouver Canucks, who were eager to shed the winger’s bloated contract and begin re-signing some of their other players.
On Wednesday, Mikheyev was ultimately traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, waiving the modified no-trade clause in his contract to help complete the transaction.
In the deal, the Canucks retained $712,000 of Mikheyev’s $4.750 million cap hit for the next two years and received a 2027 fourth-round draft pick from Chicago. The Blackhawks, besides Mikheyev, received the signing rights to forward Sam Lafferty and a 2027 second-round pick.
With that extra cap space, the Canucks on Thursday re-signed forward Dakota Joshua to a four-year contract with a $3.25 million average annual value and defenseman Tyler Myers to a three-year extension ($3 million AAV).
Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic posted on X on Wednesday that there was another team involved in discussions to acquire Mikheyev. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said Thursday on “The Jeff Marek Show” that he believed that team was the Sharks.
Mikheyev, though, was more interested in going to Chicago than San Jose, Friedman said.
Contacted by this news organization about the report that Mikheyev preferred Chicago to San Jose, his agent, Dan Milstein, declined comment.
Sharks general manager Mike Grier said earlier this week that he was looking for forwards to help provide offensive support. In his five-year NHL career, Mikheyev has 131 points in 270 games. He had 31 points in 78 games for the Canucks this past season.
“We do need some scoring on the wings, most likely, and maybe some center depth to take some pressure off of (Mikael Granlund and Will Smith),” Grier said.
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The Sharks acquired another player, defenseman Jake Walman, earlier this week under similar circumstances. The Detroit Red Wings wanted to dump Walman’s contract, which has two years left with a cap hit of $3.4 million.
The Sharks took on that deal and a 2024 second-round draft pick from the Wings in exchange for future considerations.