In the start of a pivotal week for the San Jose Sharks, with the NHL Draft on Tuesday, and free agency starting Friday, Monday started out with the acquisition of two positions of need. 

First, the San Jose Sharks officially traded a 2021 third round pick to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for forward Ryan Donato. Donato, the 24 year old Harvard product had 23 points (14 goals, 19 assists) in the 2019-2020 season. This move was originally reported to be done earlier Monday morning, according to The Athletic. 

In a press release put out by San Jose, General Manager Doug Wilson gave his thoughts on the trade. 

“Ryan is an offensively-gifted young player who loves to compete and use his terrific shot,” said Wilson. “His game had shown steady improvement each season and we think his best hockey is ahead of him.”

The Sharks have also acquired Minnesota goaltender Devan Dubnyk as well as a 2022 7th round pick in exchange for a 2022 5th round pick. Dubnyk, the 34 year old goalie, had 12 wins, 15 losses, and 2 overtime losses, with an 89% save percentage and a goals against average at 3.35. Minnesota retained 50% of Dubnyk’s salary, as he will be making around $4.3 million on his last year of a 6 year contract. This means the Sharks will only have him putting just over $2¼ million on their salary cap.

Doug Wilson also gave his thoughts on the Dubnyk trade. 

“Devan has been one of the league’s top goaltenders for many years and after playing so many years in the western conference, is someone our hockey staff is very familiar with.” Wilson said in a press release on the NHL’s website. “…his acquisition gives us a high quality and experienced tandem of netminders.” 

That tandem he is talking about is now Dubnyk and Martin Jones, as Aaron Dell is expected not to be re-signed and head to free agency. 

These two trades give the Sharks low risk, high reward players that can potentially make a big impact for the team. Mentioned earlier, free agency starts on friday, so expect more moves to be made throughout the week.