Kaut Leaves Sharks for Czech Team

Forward Martin Kaut has chosen to play with HC Dynamo Pardubice of the Czech Extraliga this coming season, rather than return to the San Jose Sharks organization.

The Sharks, who qualified the RFA last week, still retain his rights.

“I don’t know a whole lot about the situation,” San Jose Barracuda head coach John McCarthy said when asked if Kaut was unhappy with playing in the AHL. “He was great when he was with us. He worked hard.

“But you know, it’s his decision.”

San Jose initially acquired Kaut in a January trade with the Colorado Avalanche which sent him and Jacob MacDonald to the Bay Area and Matt Nieto and Ryan Merkley to Denver.

Kaut was unhappy near the end of his time with the Avalanche organization, making multiple trade requests in recent seasons.

Kaut explained at the time, “I played, this year with the Avs, like 30 games or something. Most of the time, I played on the fourth line with two [defensemen] and I played center. I’m a right wing… played four or five minutes [in a game].”

The 23-year-old winger found success in San Jose, putting up three goals and 14 points in 19 games with the San Jose Barracuda and three goals and five points in nine games with the San Jose Sharks.

Kaut played for HC Dynamo Pardubice’s youth team in 2014-15 and eventually joined their men’s team in 2016-17 and 2017-18. He was also loaned back to the Czech club for a few games before the delayed start of the 2020-21 season. The team seems excited about getting the forward back: