The San Jose Sharks claimed forward Micheal Haley off waivers from the Florida Panthers Wednesday morning.
This move didn’t really come to a surprise to San Jose Sharks fans with the idea being heavily speculated as soon as Haley got put on the waiver wire.
The 32-year-old center recorded three goals and 13 points in three seasons with Sharks from 2014 to 2017, and did not get ice time during San Jose’s Stanley Cup Playoff runs.
In his two-year tenure with the Panthers, Haley registered four goals and 12 points in 98 games. However, the native of Guelph, Ontario is not known for his scoring, but his grit and tenacity.
Haley got iced for 75 games last season, which is the most of his career. It makes sense considering he played under former San Jose Sharks assistant coach Bob Boughner. The 9 year NHL veteran sat in the box for the most penalty minutes in the National Hockey League, a major chunk of that was a result of scraps with opponents.
Haley is a hard-checking, grind-it-out type of forward that will bolster the fore-checking, physicality, and durability of San Jose’s fourth line. The Sharks coaching staff hasn’t settled on a 4th line so don’t be surprised if he gets penciled in during this playoff push.
TSN Insider Pierre Lebrun broke the news on Twitter earlier this morning and it garnered a mixture of reactions. The pick up was low risk with the remaining cap hit only costing the San Jose Sharks $204,032 for the rest of the season, according to Capfriendly.
San Jose Sharks claim Micheal Haley off waivers from Florida
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 20, 2019
With this move just being a waiver-wire grab expect general manager Doug Wilson and the Sharks organization to make a bigger splash as the February 25th deadline approaches.
All of the statistics in this article are provided by Hockey-Reference.com unless stated otherwise.