Doug Wilson wasted little time in extending 22-year-old forward Tomas Hertl to a two-year deal on Wednesday.
The San Jose Sharks checked another box from their offseason “To Do” list as team teal extended one of their key centerpieces for the next couple years.
On Wednesday, Bob McKenzie of TSN broke the news that Tomas Hertl had agreed to a two-year deal to remain in San Jose at $3M per season.
Tomas Hertl agrees to terms with SJ. Two years, $6M.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 29, 2016
This is a nice bump for Hertl who was coming off his entry-level contract where he was making $925,000 per year.
Hertl chose the right time to experience a breakthrough campaign in teal after really struggling during the 2014-15 season. After a rough start to this year where he was asked to pick up the slack when Logan Couture went down, Hertl really took off when he was placed on the top line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski.
The results were a career-year across the board for the 22-year-old Hertl who established new career highs with 21 goals, 25 assists, 46 points, a plus-16 rating and just under 16 minutes of ice time per game.
During the postseason, Hertl helped formulate one of the most dominant lines across the league as the trio of Hertl, Thornton and Pavelski helped carry San Jose to the Stanley Cup Final.
Unfortunately, Hertl, who was arguably their best forward to that point, had to miss the final four games of the playoffs after suffering a knee injury. He finished the postseason with six goals and five assists, but it doesn’t look like he will need surgery on his knee.
Per General Fanager, here are some comparables for Hertl’s two-year deal.
The contract feels just right for both sides considering Hertl shows clear potential as an offensive playmaker, but he’s struggled a bit with injuries from time to time. He’s clearly a pivotal piece of the Sharks future, and if he can continue his development, he will see even larger raises in his future.
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For his career, Hertl has notched 49 goals and 53 assists with a plus-22 rating in 200 career games. He’s added eight goals and eight assists in 27 career postseason contests.
With the Hertl signing done and dusted, San Jose now has more than $9M in cap space with contracts for Dylan DeMelo and Matt Nieto still to come. I would expect both of those deals to be right around the $1M mark each, leaving the Sharks with about $6.5-$7M when free agency begins on Friday.