Confirmed Trade: [SJS/MIN] Kaapo Kahkonen and 2022 5th round pick for Jacob Middleton

[Five Alarm Fire]

It just feels right having a Finnish goalie on San Jose.

 

[BruinsBtn]

SJ has too many goalies now.

Let the Reimer sweepstakes begin!

 

[The Marquis]

You KNOW this involves Reimer.

 

[Extra Texture]

Damn I keep refreshing the trade board and doing a double take at this title, thinking the Rangers have traded Kaapo Kakko

 

[TheWayToRefJose]

Either Reimer is gone today or Hill is out for the year and Reims will be traded in the off-season.

 

[Lion Hound]

Wild cornering the market on badasses!

 

[TheWayToRefJose]

Wild cornering the market on badasses!

And more importantly acquired the best mustache in the league.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Reimer is probably gone

Hill back to Zona

 

[TheWayToRefJose]

Hill back to Zona

Hill is injured. If he’s dealt instead of Reimer, it’ll be in the off-season presumably.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Crazy to me Middleton even made it. Was highly touted as a 16/17y/o. Had a mediocre draft year and was Mr.Irrelevant at one point in time. Then proceeded to go unsigned and earned a contract with Sam Jose.

Real good story.

 

[Gecklund]

Crazy to me Middleton even made it. Was highly touted as a 16/17y/o. Had a mediocre draft year and was Mr.Irrelevant at one point in time. Then proceeded to go unsigned and earned a contract with Sam Jose.

Real good story.

Even in SJ he was never seen to be anything over a 6/7D as late as last season.

 

[MMC]

 

[Ronnie Residue]

Enjoy the moustache Wild fans.
His play ain’t too bad either.

 

[BuLLeT1291]

To me and I may be out in left field here but this seems like an absolute steal for SJ.

 

[Mattb124]

To me and I may be out in left field here but this seems like an absolute steal for SJ.

Middleton is a pretty solid player, just a late bloomer so he doesn't have much of a reputation. Steady D/PKer with a touch of offense. While people are calling him a bottom pairing d-man (and he might be that in MIN), he has been #3 in D ice time in SJ with Ferraro out (~19 mins/game). He is also one of only two Sharks regulars who are in the + this season and leads the team in that category (+3). And while he fights, he is better at hockey than at fighting.

 

[Kcoyote3]

To me and I may be out in left field here but this seems like an absolute steal for SJ.

It could be, depends on what happens with Kakhonen's contract, as well as how he plays here. He has a great track record of success which is key though. Liiga, AHL, etc. and just now getting settled as an every day NHL goalie. I like the swing on his upside.

Middleton is great at slowing the game down and getting the puck out of high danger areas in the d zone. He has the ability to get it to a better puck moving defenseman and get it out. My only worry is that he could be a flash in the pan since he hasn't really been hugely successful before this. He was good in the AHL, but not spectacular. If he signs a big contract this summer for 3-4 years, by year 2-3 teams could be saying "so why do we pay you more than 2 million?". Then it goes from a success story to fans thinking he's worse than he is.

 

[josra33]

So we can cross off the sharks as a possible landing spot

This aged poorly

 

[rynryn]

sounds like fans from both teams liked their respective players so this should be a good trade.

 

[biturbo19]

Seems weird that Minnesota gave up on him so quickly. Like, yeah...you've got two starting goaltenders now, but it seems a little short-sighted. This guy is young, and Talbot and Fleury are both not young. They're not going to be the answer going forward.

Just makes the Fleury acquisition even more strange to me. That doesn't seem like the place they ought to have been going out spending their deadline capital. And it cost them their potential sort of "future in net" with this follow-on side deal. Weird.

 

[Joseph Nathan]

Seems weird that Minnesota gave up on him so quickly. Like, yeah...you've got two starting goaltenders now, but it seems a little short-sighted. This guy is young, and Talbot and Fleury are both not young. They're not going to be the answer going forward.

Just makes the Fleury acquisition even more strange to me. That doesn't seem like the place they ought to have been going out spending their deadline capital. And it cost them their potential sort of "future in net" with this follow-on side deal. Weird.

He was bound to be a backup in 1-3 years with jasper wallstedt.

 

[biturbo19]

He was bound to be a backup in 1-3 years with jasper wallstedt.

Maybe. Banking on goalie prospects like that is always dangerous though. When you have a good young goaltender like that, it's usually a good idea to try to hold onto them.

 

[Circulartheory]

Maybe. Banking on goalie prospects like that is always dangerous though. When you have a good young goaltender like that, it's usually a good idea to try to hold onto them.

He's been with the org for 4 years, we kinda have a good grasp of him behind a Wild sweater, a good 1B goalie.

He might flourish somewhere else but I feel he is what he is. He doesn't have the size, the quickness, or the mental consistency to take up the top goalie spot.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Oh shit…. Was Eklund right on a trade?

Thats not good… isn’t that the final sign of the apocalypse ?

In the current political climate this joke can very well become truth...

 

[TaLoN]

To me and I may be out in left field here but this seems like an absolute steal for SJ.

Kahk has been awful... he's young though and could become a solid backup, but I've been convinced for some time that he'll never be a true starter in this league.

He definitely wasn't going to be worth his next contract in Minnesota with the coming cap constraints either.

 

[matt trick]

Kahk has been awful... he's young though and could become a solid backup, but I've been convinced for some time that he'll never be a true starter in this league.

He definitely wasn't going to be worth his next contract in Minnesota with the coming cap constraints either.

Any rumours of what that contract might look like, or is this a scenario where with tight cap you want to see an ultra-cheap backup in the $750k-$1.5M range.