Recalled/Assigned: 2024-25 Sharks/Barracuda/Thunder

[Hobocop]

How about, go dominate for the Cuda (has he done that?) then come take a job.

All I'm going to say is that Mukhamadullin spent a lot of time recovering from that injury he got during the offseason, came back and did well but didn't contribute much offense, and then once he got his offense going he was quickly called up to the Sharks. It's obvious they want to get him NHL experience. Seems like a good way to get better at the NHL level, crazy thought.

The injury probably did him in in more ways than one, since him being down in the AHL allowed Thrun to play enough games to become waiver eligible in the meantime.

 

[Hodge]

I'm not prepared to speculate on who will/won't get moved at the deadline and the implications for the logjam at LD, but I will say... with a mediocre D pipeline (which we do indeed have), asking those young, inexperienced LD to play their offside while ALSO stepping up to NHL caliber is not a good call.

It does matter. It isn't everything, but it does matter.

I don’t think Mukhamadullin or Thrun should be playing their off side but any of Walman, Ferraro and Vlasic can do it.

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

I don’t recall ever seeing any evidence that Grier considered Mukhamadullin to be the centerpiece of the Meier trade. But, even if he did, opinions can change, and it’s pretty clear that the organization just doesn’t think very highly of Mukhamadullin at this point.

 

[timorous me]

I don’t think Mukhamadullin or Thrun should be playing their off side but any of Walman, Ferraro and Vlasic can do it.

Yeah, I mean, if Ferraro is still around after the deadline, you can put him on the right side. I seem to recall him doing it a little bit in the past, and honestly, it's not like some great aspect of his game is going to be lost; he'll be a sub-standard puck mover/zone exiter whichever side he's on.

 

[Juxtaposer]

I disagree. While this team needs to focus on developing young players it also needs to raise the floor on its overall performance. You don’t do that with too many rookies and reclamation projects in the lineup. With the current roster, both Thompson and Mukhamadullin have played 20-25% of the games because of injuries. I also expect Ceci and Rutta to be traded at the deadline giving Shakir less competition for playing time. As it stands, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to ask a player to outplay guys like Thrun or Ferraro to earn ice time. How about, go dominate for the Cuda (has he done that?) then come take a job.

How many rookies are in the defense right now?

Walman, Ceci, Rutta, Ferraro, Liljegren, and Vlasic are all vets. It's literally only Thrun who is youngish, and he's almost 24 and certainly not in his rookie season.

Hot take, but not many NHLers dominated the AHL before graduating. Plenty of them played adequately in the AHL and learned their role at the NHL level from there.

Mukhamadullin is 23 years old and has been playing pro hockey for literally five years. If you don't care about him enough to make space on the blue line for him right now, then he should be cut loose.

 

[coooldude]

I don’t recall ever seeing any evidence that Grier considered Mukhamadullin to be the centerpiece of the Meier trade. But, even if he did, opinions can change, and it’s pretty clear that the organization just doesn’t think very highly of Mukhamadullin at this point.

To me, it seems pretty clear they're lukewarm on him. Not ready to give up on him (e.g. not where Bords and Gushchin are, which to me seem like one foot out the door), but also not banking on him to be a core piece. They want to give him NHL time but they might see him as developing into just an NHL "guy", which is fine but not all that important, so why make major changes to either lineup to accommodate him?

The shoes to drop are all at the deadline and FA. We won't really know what they think about him, honestly, until camp, because we have to see who they try to move in front of him, etc.

 

[gaucholoco3]

I don't think the LD vs. RD thing matters in this case. All our LD can play the right side if necessary so even if they are all brought back for next season that doesn't squeeze out Shak.

Not to rehash this debate that has been had on this forum in multiple different threads over the years but handedness with D absolutely matters. There have been studies and just look at the draft as evidence of the value that less common RD have around the league. It’s why Ceci will get a 2nd and is probably worth more than Ferraro.

I would guess Muk would get called up if only one of Ceci or Rutta is traded but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Thompson was called up ahead of Muk.

I can also guarantee that the Sharks will not go into next season with all 5 LD(Walman, Ferraro, Thrun, Vlasic, Muk) on the NHL roster. They will move one or send Muk down if he is still waiver exempt.

 

[Star Platinum]

There were 8 healthy defensemen on the roster. Mukhamadullin is the only one who is waiver exempt. Hence he was sent down. This isn't some mystery.

Not the point! The point is that there shouldn't be seven healthy waiver-eligible defensemen on this roster when you have a 23 year old defense prospect that needs NHL ice time.

Good God it is the point.

 

[Star Platinum]

Yes the issue is not with the RD that will be traded. This will be the same issue next year in one of Walman, Ferraro, or Thrun are not moved in the offseason.

I mean, I literally just posted a tweet yesterday where it said the Sharks were getting interest on Ferraro and Ceci. This very easily could happen sometime in the next 6 weeks.

Grier knows his defense isn't anywhere near good enough and he's got three young LHD that he has to figure out what he wants to do with next season. I'd be utterly shocked if he wasn't kicking tires in the offseason to get a better LHD than Ferraro and maybe even Walman and leaving one spot open for whichever young player is most deserving on the bottom pairing.

 

[Hodge]

Not to rehash this debate that has been had on this forum in multiple different threads over the years but handedness with D absolutely matters. There have been studies and just look at the draft as evidence of the value that less common RD have around the league. It’s why Ceci will get a 2nd and is probably worth more than Ferraro.

I would guess Muk would get called up if only one of Ceci or Rutta is traded but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Thompson was called up ahead of Muk.

I can also guarantee that the Sharks will not go into next season with all 5 LD(Walman, Ferraro, Thrun, Vlasic, Muk) on the NHL roster. They will move one or send Muk down if he is still waiver exempt.

I completely agree that defenseman handedness matters in a general sense but in this case it doesn't matter that Vlasic, Ferraro, Walman, Thrun and Mukhamadullin are all left handed. Vlasic, Ferraro and/or Walman can all be moved over to the right and while that will probably hurt their performance we're not trying to win games.

 

[Star Platinum]

All I'm going to say is that Mukhamadullin spent a lot of time recovering from that injury he got during the offseason, came back and did well but didn't contribute much offense, and then once he got his offense going he was quickly called up to the Sharks. It's obvious they want to get him NHL experience. Seems like a good way to get better at the NHL level, crazy thought.

The injury probably did him in in more ways than one, since him being down in the AHL allowed Thrun to play enough games to become waiver eligible in the meantime.

Since Thrun is 23 and had played 59 games for the Sharks over the past two seasons, I believe the only way they would have been able to keep him from reaching waiver eligibility would have been for him to go immediately to the Barracuda before the start of the season. The first game played would have pushed him up to the 60 game threshold.

The Sharks talk about Thrun as if he's someone they value. I don't know whether that's GM/coach speak or not, but it's decision time for both him and Mukhamadullin as to whether they are in their long-term plans or not. I don't think the Sharks have given up on Mukhamadullin by any stretch, but they have been juggling a lot of players back and forth from both the AHL and injured reserve for a while now, so if the injuries abate, they'll need a few trades to clear some space for young guys to get more experience.

What I find confusing about the Sharks is that they seem to have a much higher opinion of Thrun than Thompson when to me they are the exact same player and that's not an endorsement of Thompson per se.

 

[Hobocop]

Since Thrun is 23 and had played 59 games for the Sharks over the past two seasons, I believe the only way they would have been able to keep him from reaching waiver eligibility would have been for him to go immediately to the Barracuda before the start of the season. The first game played would have pushed him up to the 60 game threshold.

The Sharks talk about Thrun as if he's someone they value. I don't know whether that's GM/coach speak or not, but it's decision time for both him and Mukhamadullin as to whether they are in their long-term plans or not. I don't think the Sharks have given up on Mukhamadullin by any stretch, but they have been juggling a lot of players back and forth from both the AHL and injured reserve for a while now, so if the injuries abate, they'll need a few trades to clear some space for young guys to get more experience.

What I find confusing about the Sharks is that they seem to have a much higher opinion of Thrun than Thompson when to me they are the exact same player and that's not an endorsement of Thompson per se.

80. At the age Thrun signed his ELC, it was an 80 game threshold. And given that even now he's sitting in favor of Vlasic, we probably could've stretched that out quite a bit with Mukhamadullin also with the Sharks. Could've alternated between the two of them to start the year.

My general feeling is that Grier has his own timeline for players and doesn't really deviate from it much. Thrun wasn't amazing in his AHL time last season, but he came up anyway. Mukhamadullin was doing well in the AHL this season, but I wouldn't say his play was demanding an immediate callup when it happened. So I think he wants Muk to get NHL time, but is having trouble making it work because of the number of bodies we have on defense right now.

 

[Star Platinum]

80. At the age Thrun signed his ELC, it was an 80 game threshold. And given that even now he's sitting in favor of Vlasic, we probably could've stretched that out quite a bit with Mukhamadullin also with the Sharks. Could've alternated between the two of them to start the year.

My general feeling is that Grier has his own timeline for players and doesn't really deviate from it much. Thrun wasn't amazing in his AHL time last season, but he came up anyway. Mukhamadullin was doing well in the AHL this season, but I wouldn't say his play was demanding an immediate callup when it happened. So I think he wants Muk to get NHL time, but is having trouble making it work because of the number of bodies we have on defense right now.

Thanks for the explanation. I was not so confident in myself as I read the waiver rules that I understood them correctly and misinterpreted it to read that the number of games required would decrease as a player aged up.

Do you think Cagnoni has passed up Mukhamadullin as a prospect in the Sharks eyes or does his better frame still outweigh the difference in the offensive production? Certainly they're in no rush to get Cagnoni NHL time as of yet.

 

[CupfortheSharks]

Mukhamadullin is 23 years old and has been playing pro hockey for literally five years. If you don't care about him enough to make space on the blue line for him right now, then he should be cut loose.

That seems extreme to me. He has played 10 NHL and 14 AHL games so far this year. I expect the ratio to lean towards the NHL after the deadline. I just don’t see it as a problem. Lots of players move back and forth between the two leagues while they are adjusting to the NHL.

 

[LadyStanley]

 

[Hobocop]

Thanks for the explanation. I was not so confident in myself as I read the waiver rules that I understood them correctly and misinterpreted it to read that the number of games required would decrease as a player aged up.

Do you think Cagnoni has passed up Mukhamadullin as a prospect in the Sharks eyes or does his better frame still outweigh the difference in the offensive production? Certainly they're in no rush to get Cagnoni NHL time as of yet.

I do not, especially not the way Cagnoni has been playing lately, which is a step down from how he started the season. But there's plenty to like about both.

 

[DG93]

I completely agree that defenseman handedness matters in a general sense but in this case it doesn't matter that Vlasic, Ferraro, Walman, Thrun and Mukhamadullin are all left handed. Vlasic, Ferraro and/or Walman can all be moved over to the right and while that will probably hurt their performance we're not trying to win games.

Yeah, I agree with this. If Ceci and Rutta get moved at the deadline, can bring up Thompson and Mukh and run a defense of Walman-Liljegren, Mukh-Ferraro, Thrun-Thompson...someting like that. If Ferraro goes, it becomes even easier.