One of the better remaining available free agents has come off the board, the San Jose Sharks signing forward Evgeny Svechnikov to a one-year, two-way deal. Svechnikov’s agent, Dan Milstein, announced the signing.
Per CapFriendly, the deal is worth $750K at the NHL level, which is the league-minimum for the 2022-23 season, and $350K at the AHL level.
While Svechnikov was a UFA after the Winnipeg Jets failed to extend him a qualifying offer this offseason, the winger will once again be an RFA with arbitration rights this offseason.
The No. 19 overall selection in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Svechnikov quickly became one of the more exciting prospects in the Detroit Red Wings farm system as the team began its rebuild.
A smooth skating winger with size and an NHL ready shot, Svechnikov was to be one of Detroit’s foundational pieces moving forward. Though he’s made it to the NHL, things have not panned out as hoped.
A dominant junior career lead Svechnikov to an AHL debut a year after being drafted, where the winger impressed with 51 points in 74 games as a member of the Grand Rapids Griffins. Unfortunately, that success didn’t translate to the NHL level, and Svechnikov would record just 12 points in 41 games with the Red Wings over four seasons.
Svechnikov would also spend significant parts of two seasons with the Griffins, but failed to repeat on his 2016-17 breakout.
After the 2020-21 season, Detroit declined to qualify Svechnikov and he became a UFA. Much like this offseason, the former top prospect was unable to gather much interest and eventually took a PTO with the Winnipeg Jets, which he was able to turn into an NHL deal. The Jets gave Svechnikov his most consistent NHL look in 2021-22, getting him into 72 games.
Now 25, the winger still was unable to take the step forward he and his teams had been looking for, as he scored just seven goals to go with 12 assists.
While it wasn’t the hope, and truthfully his performance may have simply been the original expectation, it was still clearly enough to allow San Jose to take a chance on him.
He’ll be 26 at the end of October and though the production has never truly been there since his 2016-17 AHL performance, the rebuilding Sharks may hope to find a spark within Svechnikov, who did once upon a time have star talent within.
For the player, on top of giving him a chance to impress and a fresh start, it’s also worth noting the deal carries a particularly large AHL salary of $350K and the San Jose Barracuda, the Sharks’ AHL affiliate share a city, meaning there should be increased stability regardless of which level he winds up in.
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