I mentioned this the day of the trade, but with the Karlsson transaction having included Chris Tierney and Rudolfs Balcers ( :cry: ), the trade extended the life of a chain of deals that can be traced unbroken back all the way to the 1993 draft and the Sharks' first round pick that year. So in honor of that, I have spent the last few days creating what might be my magnum opus: a complete visual reference to the greatest trade tree in Sharks history and possibly one of the greatest in NHL history.

Apologies for the quality, I had to compress it a fair bit to get under HF's limits (and I hope it hasn't reduced the dimensions any.). If I can figure out a way/place to upload the full size, undegraded image (the original attempt was a ~13MB png file. The Photoshop file is close to 100MB), I'll see about doing that. I also didn't want to get into slices and puzzling the image together because I'm not sure how NuHF mobile or tablet setups handle parsing images and inserting line breaks that might bork this up.

SJTradeTree-Kozlov2.jpg


Click the image to blow it up to full size. Tracking the paths through the trades works as follows:
1) Start where it says "Start here!" That's the first deal with the Sharks trading away their 1993 1st round pick to Hartford for the Whalers' 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks in that same draft.
2) String colors indicate the nature of the trade paths.
  • The red string at the top is the common path (sending SJ's first to Hartford)
  • The teal string follows the path of the 1st round pick that the Sharks acquired from Hartford and all the connected trades that followed.
  • The green string follows the path of the 2nd round pick acquired and its follow-up trades.
  • The blue string follows the path of the 3rd round pick acquired and its follow-up trades.
  • Orange strings appear on any given path and represent assets the Sharks trade in deals connected to the tree that weren't acquired as part of this tree of deals itself (for example, when Viktor Kozlov (the pick with Hartford's first) was traded to Florida, the Sharks included a 1998 4th round selection. That 98 4th is tied to the Florida deal with an orange string.
3) Pushpin colors indicate the nature of the item pinned.
  • Gray pins are for indicating the team involved with the Sharks in the trade, via the displayed logo and the date the trade occurred (to the best of my research).
  • Green pins are draft picks involved in trades here. On each card pinned by a green pin you'll see the logo of the relevant draft, the pick and round of the selection traded, and the logo of the team to whom the pick belonged at the outset of the deal illustrated in the tree (for example, in the initial trade, the 2nd overall pick was the Sharks' selection traded to Hartford. It has a Sharks logo. The 3 picks brought back to San Jose display the Whalers logo.) When relevant or interesting, I have noted the player who those draft picks were used to select. They are the card/picture that is tacked to the draft pick card with a silver thumbtack.
  • Orange pins are for players that were drafted with picks acquired in trades in this tree who were subsequently traded away in connected trades. Viktor Kozlov gets an orange pin to show his trade out of town. Tyson Sexsmith doesn't because he was never traded away by the Sharks
  • Blue pins are players acquired in trade or traded away by the Sharks who were not part of draft picks in this tree (Andrei Nazarov was shipped to Tampa Bay as part of one of the trades, but he was drafted in 1992 with a pick that has nothing to do with any of these trades. So he gets a blue pin, not an orange one)
  • Red pins are notes where a particular branch of the tree ends (either permanently or for now with a player still on the Sharks)
  • Teal pins are general notes, comments, trivia, or flavor
4) Just follow the strings that go from each player's hockey card/image or draft pick card to the next trade icon connected to them and continue. If multiple assets from a single trade panned out into stuff, they will be their own sub-branch as long as necessary. You'll know you've hit the end of a path when you come across the red pin

For those that want a text reference to the above image to decipher the moves:

  1. June 26, 1993: Sharks trade their 1993 1st round pick (2nd overall. Whalers select Chris Pronger. BOOOOO!!!!!!) to Hartford for the Whalers' 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks in the same 1993 draft.
  2. The Sharks use the 1st round pick (6th overall) acquired in (1) to select Viktor Kozlov.
  3. The Sharks use the 2nd round pick (45th overall) acquired in (1) to select Vlastimil Kroupa.
  4. The Sharks use the 3rd round pick (58th overall) acquired in (1) to select Ville Peltonen.
From here, the 3 picks have their own branches shown below:
  1. November 14, 1997: Sharks trade Kozlov and a 5th round pick in the 1998 draft (98th overall) to Florida for Dave Lowry and Florida's 1st round pick in the 1998 draft (1st overall)
  2. Path Split from (1), Sub-Branch (A): July 26, 2000: Lowry becomes a free agent and signs a contract with the Calgary Flames. SUB-BRANCH (1)(A) ENDS.
  3. Path Split from (1), Sub-Branch (B): March 24, 1998: Sharks trade the 1st round pick acquired from Florida in (1) along with Andrei Nazarov to Tampa Bay for Bryan Marchment, David Shaw, and Tampa Bay's 1st round draft pick in the 1998 draft (2nd overall). Note: Tampa Bay would use the 1st rounder acquired here to draft Vincent Lecavalier.
  4. Path Split from (3), Sub-Branch (A): David Shaw never actually joined the Sharks. The team appears to have simply loaned him to remain with Las Vegas of the IHL and allowed his contract to expire. SUB-BRANCH (3)(A) ENDS.
  5. Path Split from (3), Sub-Branch (B) June 27, 1998: The 1st round pick acquired from Tampa Bay in (3) is traded to Nashville in the deal discussed below in Kroupa Path (2) PROCEED TO KROUPA (2) TO CONTINUE THIS BRANCH
  6. March 8, 2003: Sharks trade Marchment to Colorado for a 3rd round pick (97th overall) in 2003 and a 5th round pick (163rd overall) in 2003.
  7. Path Split from (6), Sub-Branch (A): June 21, 2003: The 5th round pick acquired from Colorado in (6) is traded back to Colorado for Scott Parker.
  8. February 27, 2007: Scott Parker is traded back to Colorado for a 6th round pick (170th overall) in the 2008 draft.
  9. June 23, 2007: The 6th round pick acquired in (8) is traded back to Colorado (this is not a typo) along with a 4th (113th overall) and 5th (143rd overall) in 2007 for Colorado's 3rd round pick (91st overall) in the 2007 draft.
  10. With the 91st overall selection acquired in (9), the Sharks pick G Tyson Sexsmith from the Vancouver Giants (WHL).
  11. Oct 11, 2012: Sexsmith is non-tendered by the Sharks after 3 uneventful seasons in Worcester and becomes a free agent. He would sign in the KHL for a year, play a year in Italy, and then apparently retire. He was most recently seen in 2017 attending Vancouver's 10th anniversary of their Memorial Cup victory looking very much like a guy who hasn't played hockey in 5 years. SUB-BRANCH (6)(A) ENDS.
  12. Path Split from (6), Sub-Branch (B): June 21, 2003: The 3rd round pick acquired from Colorado in (6) is packaged with San Jose's own 5th (143rd overall) and 6th (173rd overall) in the 2003 draft and traded to Calgary for Calgary's 2nd round pick (53rd overall) in 2006.
  13. June 24, 2006: Sharks trade the Calgary 2nd rounder acquired in (12) along with their own 1st rounder (20th overall) to Montreal for the Canadiens' 1st rounder (16th overall) in this same 2006 draft.
  14. The Sharks use the 1st rounder acquired in (13) to draft D Ty Wishart from Prince George of the WHL
  15. July 4, 2008: Wishart is part of a package made up of Matt Carle, the Sharks 2009 1st round selection (26th overall) and the Sharks 2010 4th rounder (118th overall) which is traded to Tampa Bay for Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich.
  16. Path Split from (15), Sub-Branch (A): June 5, 2014: With his contract set to expire on July 1, the rights to Dan Boyle are traded to the New York Islanders for the Isles' 5th round pick (142nd overall) in 2015. For posterity's sake, the Isles would fail to sign Boyle even with the extended negotiating window, watching him walk to the New York Rangers on July 1 instead.
  17. With the 5th rounder acquired in (16), the Sharks select F Rudolfs Balcers from Stavinger of the Norwegian league. Sub-Branch continued below in (22).
  18. Path Split from (15), Sub-Branch (B): August 28, 2009: Brad Lukowich is packaged with Christian Ehrhoff and traded to Vancouver for prospects Pat White and Daniel Rahimi.
  19. Path Split from (18), Sub-Branch (A) June 30, 2010: Rahimi is non-tendered by the Sharks with him never having come over from Europe. SUB-BRANCH (18)(A) ENDS.
  20. Path Split from (18), Sub-Branch (B), Aug 16, 2011: Sharks elect not to offer a contract to Pat White as he leaves college. As an unsigned former 1st round selection (Vancouver selected White 25th overall in 2007) the Sharks are entitled to a compensation pick from the league, the 25th pick in the 2nd round of the 2012 draft, 55th overall.
  21. With the pick acquired in (20), the Sharks select Chris Tierney.
  22. Branch merger of Sub-Branches (15)(A)&(B): September 13, 2018: Tierney, drafted in (21) and Balcers, drafted in (17) are packaged with an assortment of future draft picks and Dylan DeMelo and traded to Ottawa for Erik Karlsson and Francis Perron. SUB-BRANCHES (15)(A) & (B), and (18)(B) ALL END.

  1. August 22, 1997: Sharks trade Kroupa to New Jersey for the Devils' 3rd round pick (85th overall) in the 1998 draft.
  2. June 27, 1998: Sharks trade the pick acquired from New Jersey above in (1) along with the 1998 1st round pick acquired from Tampa Bay in Kozlov branch (3) to Nashville for Nashville's 1st round pick (3rd overall) and 2nd round pick (29th overall) in the 1998 draft. Note: Nashville would use the 1st rounder acquired in this trade to draft David Legwand.
  3. Path Split from (2), sub-branch (A): The Sharks would use the 1st rounder from Nashville in (2) to select Brad Stuart.
  4. November 30, 2005: Stuart is packaged with Wayne Primeau and Marco Sturm and traded to Boston for Joe Thornton. SUB-BRANCH (2)(A) ENDS
  5. Path Split from (2), Sub-Branch (B): The Sharks would use the 2nd rounder from Nashville in (2) to select Jonathan Cheechoo
  6. September 12, 2009: Cheechoo would be packaged with Milan Michalek and a 2nd round pick in 2010 (58th overall) and traded to Ottawa for Dany Heatley and a 5th round pick in 2010 (136th overall)
  7. Path Split from (6), Sub-Branch (A): The Sharks would use the 5th rounder acquired in (6) to draft D Isaac MacLeod from the Penticton Vees of the BCHL. He would play out an uneventful career with Boston College and be non-tendered by the Sharks, playing 1 season afterwards in the ECHL before disappearing off the hockey map. SUB-BRANCH (6)(A) ENDS.
  8. Path Split from (6), Sub-Branch (B): July 3, 2011: After 2 years in San Jose, Heatley would be traded to Minnesota for Martin Havlat. Note that for the sake of consistency, I am not counting this trade and the co-timed Burns trade as the same deal. They were consummated separately and will be judged as such.
  9. June 27, 2014: San Jose buys out the final year of Havlat's contract, making him a free agent. SUB-BRANCHES (2)(B) & (6)(B) END. BRANCH ENDS.

  1. June 26, 1998: Sharks trade Peltonen to Nashville for the Predators' 5th rounder (116th overall) in the 1998 draft.
  2. June 27, 1998: Sharks trade the pick acquired from Nashville above in (1) to Phoenix for the Coyotes' 5th round pick (145th overall) in the 1999 draft.
  3. March 23, 1999: Sharks trade the pick acquired from Phoenix above in (2) along with their own 2nd round pick in the 2001 draft (53rd overall) to Montreal for Vincent Damphousse.
  4. August 19, 2004: After 3 and a half years in San Jose, Damphousse leaves as a free agent and signs with the Avalanche. However, the lockout puts the kibosh on him suiting up with the Avs and he would choose to retire without ever playing again. BRANCH ENDS

The short, short version is that what started as the pick that would become Chris Pronger (BOOOOOO!) would end up with the Sharks now as Joe Thornton, Erik Karlsson, and Francis Perron.

Maybe if I have time I'll note what became of the assorted other draft picks that were traded in the various deals. Most of them besides the ones noted above amounted to basically nothing or middling players like, say, Brad Richardson. The only kind of funny one is that the Habs used the 2nd rounder they acquired for the Wishart trade-up to pick Mathieu Carle and then the Sharks would flip Wishart in the package to Tampa Bay with Matt Carle. So there was a Carle and Carle (no relation) connection :laugh:
Click to read more...
  • Like
Reactions: TheNeutrality, Free Josh Leivo, Scandale du Jour and 15 others