Marc-Édouard Vlasic A "No Doubt" Trade Candidate

He's been benched for four consecutive games, not exactly a ringing endorsement when you're trying to trade a player, but the San Jose Sharks haven't been left much choice with the way that Marc-Édouard Vlasic has been playing. But make no mistake, per insider Elliotte Friedman on his 32 Thoughts podcast, the Sharks are "no doubt" trying to move him.

He's getting benched a lot. I'll tell you what the word is on him: He's lost (that chip on his shoulder)... For whatever reason, I don't know what it is, but he's not the same guy anymore. And I think one of the reasons that San Jose benches him is that fire has been quenched. When you're... turning over your team (like San Jose is), you can't have that... Especially around young players, you can't let that happen. 

I have no doubt they want to move Vlasic. They're not scratching a guy as much as they are because they're happy with him.  

At age 36, he's only played in 14 of the Sharks' 25 games thus far. He has zero points, and sports a minus-8 rating, in about 14 minutes a night. And the real problem is that he still has two more years left at a $7M cap hit. The Hockey News recently called Vlasic's deal the worst contract in the NHL. 

Clearly, it'll take some serious retaining of salary for the Sharks to even have a chance at unloading him. 

"Is he going to be able to prove to a team that he's 75% of what he was, or 65% of what he was," added Friedman.  "Because unfortunately the book on him is that his grind factor, his determination factor is not there." 

Vlasic was a 20-minute-a-night D-man as recently as 2020, and received votes in the balloting for the Norris Trophy on four different occasions. But those days are long gone, and it'll be interesting to see if the Sharks can entice a team to take him off their hands. 

Photo: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports