San Jose Sharks

The 2024 NFL Draft Lottery will take place on Tuesday, May 7.

The time of the event will be announced next week, the NHL announced Friday.

The lottery will take place at the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey. It will be broadcast on ESPN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.

The San Jose Sharks have an 18.5 percent chance of receiving the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft.

The Chicago Blackhawks (13.5 percent) and Anaheim Ducks (11.5 percent) also have high odds heading into the lottery.

The 2024 NHL Draft will begin June 28 in Las Vegas.

Teams will first be able to evaluate prospects at the 2024 NHL Scouting Combine, which begins June 2 in Buffalo.

The lottery will determine the order of the top 16 picks, comprised of the teams who did not qualify for the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Only the teams that finished in the bottom 11 of the 2023-24 NHL standings are eligible to receive the first overall pick, as clubs can move up a maximum of 10 places in the lottery.

The official order of the odds to be selected first in the lottery are as follows, according to the NHL:

1. San Jose Sharks: 18.5%
2. Chicago Blackhawks: 13.5%
3. Anaheim Ducks: 11.5%
4. Columbus Blue Jackets: 9.5%
5. Montreal Canadiens: 8.5%
6. Utah: 7.5%
7. Ottawa Senators: 6.5%
8. Seattle Kraken: 6.0%
9. Calgary Flames: 5.0%
10. New Jersey Devils: 3.5%
11. Buffalo Sabres: 3.5%
12. Philadelphia Flyers: 2.5%
13. Minnesota Wild: 2.0%
14. Pittsburgh Penguins: 1.5%
15. Detroit Red Wings: 0.5%
16. St. Louis Blues: 0.5%

As noted above, the Flyers, Wild, Penguins, Red Wings and Blues will not be eligible to receive the No. 1 pick, even if selected first.

The Penguins are currently set to transfer their first-round pick to the San Jose Sharks as part of their 2023 trade for defenseman Erik Karlsson. If they receive a top-ten pick in the lottery, however, Pittsburgh could choose to keep the 2024 selection and offer San Jose a 2025 first-rounder instead.

The pick previously held by the Arizona Coyotes will now transfer to the NHL's newest franchise in Salt Lake City, where the Coyotes will relocate for the 2024-25 season.

The Sharks, Blackhawks, Ducks, Blue Jackets, Canadiens, Senators, Kraken, Flames, Devils, Sabres and as-yet unnamed Utah team will be in the running to receive the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft and select star Boston University center Macklin Celebrini.

The Blackhawks have the chance to earn the top pick two seasons in a row after selecting Connor Bedard at the top of last year's draft, but they would receive a future draft penalty for doing so.

The lottery rules established by the NHL in 2021 state that no team can win the lottery more than twice in a five-year period, so drafting Celebrini would leave Chicago without a shot at another No. 1 pick until 2028.

The San Jose Sharks have fired head coach David Quinn after two seasons with the team.

Quinn will finish his Sharks tenure with a 41-98-25 overall record.

He was relieved of his duties six days after San Jose finished the 2023-24 season with 19 wins, the fewest in the NHL.

Quinn coached Boston University for five seasons and the New York Rangers for three prior to joining the Sharks in 2022.

The Sharks also announced that head athletic trainer Ray Tufts will not return to the team. Tufts spent more than two decades and worked more than 2,000 games with the club.

The changes were shared Wednesday by Sharks general manager Mike Grier, who joined the team just before Quinn's tenure began in 2022.

"After going through our end of the season process of internal meetings and evaluating where our team is at and where we want our group to go, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at the head coach position," Grier said.

"David is a good coach and an even better person. I would like to personally thank him for his hard work over these past two seasons. He and his staff did an admirable job under some difficult circumstances, and I sincerely appreciate how they handled the situation."

This is the second time in his NHL head coaching career Quinn has been fired. He was dismissed by the Rangers after the team missed the playoffs in 2021.

The Sharks started out the 2023-24 campaign by matching the longest season-opening losing streak in NHL history with an 0-10-1 record to start the season.

San Jose was not expected to be a playoff contender this season, but the team's situation was worsened by injuries to captain Logan Couture, who was only able to play six games due to a hip and groin injury, and winger Tomas Hertl, who was leading the Sharks in points when he was forced to undergo knee surgery in February.

The Sharks ended up trading Hertl at the March trade deadline, parting ways with one of the final members of the San Jose team which made it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016.

Of the roster left by the end of the season, only winger Fabian Zetterlund had more than 20 goals on the season, and no players had exceeded 50 points.

The Sharks will now look to start fresh with a new coach and hopefully the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, which would allow the team to add star BU center Macklin Celebrini.

That means the upcoming draft lottery is likely to determine just how difficult it will be for Quinn's successor, who has not yet been named, to launch the Sharks' rebuild in 2024-25.

After 11 seasons with the Sharks, Tomáš Hertl is reportedly leaving San Jose.

The Vegas Golden Knights are acquiring Hertl in a last-minute trade deadline deal, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie (h/t Pierre LeBrun).

The move is "still pending trade call," LeBrun reported.

Hertl will cost the Golden Knights $6.75 million after the Sharks retain 17 percent of his salary, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.

The Sharks will receive 2023 first-round pick David Edstrom as well as a 2025 first-round pick, while Vegas will acquire third-round picks in 2025 and 2027, according to Dreger:

Hertl has 15 goals and 19 assists in 48 games this season. He last played on Jan. 27 and underwent knee surgery in early February.

Although the Sharks had not yet given a timeline for Hertl's return, LeBrun reported the forward is expected to return before the playoffs.

The Golden Knights also lost an additional 2026 first-round pick as part of the trade due to conditions in a previous deal, per CapFriendly.

Hertl isn't the only notable addition joining the team in Vegas this week.

The Golden Knights on Tuesday acquired Washington Capitals winger Anthony Mantha.

The following day, Vegas added Calgary Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin on Wednesday in a three-team trade involving the Philadelphia Flyers.

Even for a team known for trade-deadline blockbusters, like the 2019 deal for former Ottawa Senator and current team captain Mark Stone, it's been a busy trade deadline week for the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Hertl was being deployed as a top-line center in San Jose. The Golden Knights could potentially bolster their center depth behind Jack Eichel and William Karlsson by playing him on the third line.

He also has experience as a winger, and the Knights could alternatively bolster their top-six scoring by adding both Hertl and Mantha on the wings of the top two lines.

Meanwhile the Sharks, tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for a league-bottom 37 points on the season, will begin their rebuild with adding Edstrom and an upcoming first-rounder to their prospect pool. Edstrom is currently in his second season in the Swedish League, where he has 17 points in 42 games.

With Hertl's exit, the Sharks have said goodbye to almost every member of the team's former core. After sending off Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson and Timo Meier, only Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic are left from the team that made it to the franchise's first Stanley Cup Final in 2016.

The San Jose Sharks avoided becoming the first team in NHL history to lose their first 12 games of a season Tuesday by beating the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1.

According to Reuters, the Sharks entered play Tuesday tied with the 1943-44 New York Rangers and both the 2017-18 and 2021-22 Arizona Coyotes for the most consecutive losses to start an NHL season with 11.

San Jose improved to 1-10-1 on the season with Tuesday's win and handed the Flyers their fifth loss in the past six games.

The Sharks took a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game on Anthony Duclair's third goal of the season and extended the lead to 2-0 in the second period on a William Eklund power-play goal.

Joel Farabee scored for Philly with just over one minute remaining in the second to make it 2-1, but San Jose managed to hang on in the third to secure the victory.

The Flyers out-shot the Sharks 39-19, but Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 38 of the 39 shots he faced and was named the first star of the game.

Per Ben Ross of the Associated Press, Sharks head coach David Quinn praised his team's performance, saying: "I give these guys so much credit. They've been such a great group to coach. They've never stopped working. ... At some point you say, enough is enough. I give a ton of credit to our leaders and our older players. I thought they really stepped up tonight."

Meanwhile, Blackwood said the team felt a sense of "relief" to finally get in the win column.

Entering Tuesday, the Sharks were coming off back-to-back losses in which they yielded 10 goals, losing 10-1 to the Vancouver Canucks and 10-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Despite the win, Tuesday marked the ninth consecutive game in which the Sharks scored two or fewer goals.

On Thursday, the Sharks will have a chance to go for their first multi-game winning streak of the season when they host the Edmonton Oilers.

Despite being led by superstar forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers have shockingly struggled almost as much as the Sharks out of the gates, posting a record of just 2-8-1.

Logan Couture's days with the San Jose Sharks are seemingly numbered.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported Tuesday that he believes Couture "is a prime trade candidate" this season after the Sharks moved star defenseman Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins over the summer.

With the Sharks seemingly far from contending for a Stanley Cup, the franchise could try to part ways with Couture for future assets that will accelerate a rebuild.

Couture remains one of the top centers in the NHL heading into his 15th season. He's coming off a 2022-23 campaign in which he notched 27 goals and 40 assists for 67 points in 82 games on a San Jose team that struggled to a 22-44-16 finish.

However, it's important to note that Couture has a modified no-trade clause and would need to approve a trade if any team interested isn't on his list. Additionally, he has four more seasons on a contract worth $8 million annually, which won't be easy for most teams to fit under the salary cap.

With the 34-year-old seemingly on the market, here's a few landing spots for the veteran, who is currently considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury that he suffered during offseason training.

Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators might just be the top landing spot for Couture on this list.

Nashville took an aggressive approach to the offseason by signing veteran Ryan O'Reilly to center its top line alongside Filip Forsberg. However, after moving on from both Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene, the Preds have a clear need for another centerman.

Behind O'Reilly, the Preds are slated to start Cody Glass, Thomas Novak and Colton Sissons down the middle. That's not a very competitive lineup, especially in a tough Central Division.

The Predators could also make more than enough room to accommodate Couture's contract. They are projected to have $7.1 million in cap space, per CapFriendly, and it likely wouldn't be too difficult to free up the additional money to fit him under the salary cap.

Nashville missed the playoffs last year for the first time since the the 2013-14 season after finishing with a 42-32-8 record. If the team hopes to make it back to the postseason, adding a player of Couture's caliber should be a priority, especially with the amount of cap space it has.

Boston Bruins

After losing their top two centers in Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to retirement over the summer, the Boston Bruins have a clear need for a top-line center that can play alongside Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.

The Bruins are currently slated to enter the 2023-24 season with Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle as their top two centers. Morgan Geekie and Johnny Beecher are expected to center the third and fourth lines, respectively.

That's a massive drop-off in talent, and the Bruins would benefit from adding a player like Couture, who has been a consistent 20-plus goalscorer throughout his career and is a proven leader in the locker room.

However, it's unclear if the Bruins would be open to pursuing Couture with his $8 million cap hit. Boston is projected to have just $429,166 in cap space, per CapFriendly, so the franchise would have to move some considerable assets if they hope to pursue Couture.

The Bruins don't have many expensive offensive assets available to move, but some defenders could be expendable to free up some cap space.

Matt Grzelcyk is entering the final year of his contract with a cap hit worth nearly $3.7 million, and Derek Forbort also carries a $3 million cap hit that could be moved as he's entering the final year of his deal.

That would allow the Bruins to insert young defenders such as Mason Lohrei and Jakub Zboril into the lineup, though losing Grzelcyk would result in a considerable downgrade on the blue line.

Regardless, a move for Couture should at least be a consideration for Boston, especially if the team's offense struggles early on.

Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals have no cap space entering the 2023-24 season, but that doesn't mean they can't make room.

Veteran center Evgeny Kuznetsov has been linked in trade rumors with just two more years remaining on his contract and a cap hit worth $7.8 million annually. With Kuznetsov seemingly looking for a fresh start, maybe a swapping of centers could be in store for the Capitals and Sharks.

After missing the playoffs last season for the first time since the 2013-14 campaign, the Capitals need to bring in some more talent if they hope to contend for another Stanley Cup title in the Alex Ovechkin era.

Nicklas Backstom will center Washington's top line alongside Ovechkin, but if the team was to move on from Kuznetsov, there would be a pretty big gap down the middle with Dylan Strome and Nic Dowd serving as the third and fourth line centers, respectively.

With Couture aiming to win his first Stanley Cup title, he could bring a lot of juice to a Caps squad aiming to bounce back from a mediocre 2022-23 season.