The San Jose Sharks plan to place right winger Kevin Labanc on waivers Thursday afternoon, sources tell Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.
Labanc, who is quietly still just 27 years old, has been a healthy scratch for all three of San Jose’s games to open the season. He’s in the final year of a contract carrying a $4.75 million cap hit.
It has been quite the fall from grace for a player who was once an important secondary component of the team’s core. Chosen in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL draft, Labanc was a dominant major junior player in his draft +1and especially his draft +2 season, piling up 127 points in 65 games with the Barrie Colts. He was a point-per-game AHLer by 2016-17, too, and impressed in his first few seasons as an NHLer. Labanc’s best stretch with the Sharks came in 2017-18 and 2018-19 when he rattled off seasons of 40 and 56 points, spending most of his time as a top-six forward. During the 2019 playoffs, he became the first player in NHL history to tally four points in one period of a Game 7, helping San Jose defeat the Vegas Golden Knights. While he typically compiles more assists than goals, in play driving he profiles as more of a shoot-first player who loves to fire off one-timers.
In July 2019, Labanc famously signed what appeared to be a good-faith contract coming off his best season, accepting a one-year, $1 million deal to help the Sharks navigate the cap. A year later his signed his current four-year, $18.9 million pact, one he has struggled to live up to, picking up just 67 points in 148 games since the deal commenced – a 37-point pace over 82 games.
If Labanc clears waivers, he will report to the Sharks AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.
More must-reads: