Former San Jose Shark Alexander Chmelevski drawing interest from around the NHL

Former San Jose Sharks forward Alexander Chmelevski is drawing interest from around the NHL. Kevin Weekes of ESPN reports that the KHL forward is getting the attention of more than a couple of NHL teams, and with the Sharks currently holding his rights, there may be a deal in the offing for the Sharks to add to their pool of future assets while not removing anything from their active roster.

Chmelevski has started to dominate in the KHL. With Salavat Yulaev Ufa, the Huntington Beach, California native scored 26 goals and 22 assists for 48 points last season in the 67 games he played. He also grabbed four goals and an assist in the six games his team played in the postseason. It was a big performance in the KHL for the former Sarnia Sting and Ottawa 67. It's not a mistake that there are a lot of NHL teams now interested in one of the KHL's premier producers.

This season, Chmelevski has 21 goals and 22 assists for 43 points in just 49 games. He's not scoring at quite the point per game rate he was last season, but he's definitely continuing his breakout in Russia. It is something that probably would not have happened had the Sharks kept their 2017 6th round draft pick. But now that he is enjoying the success that he is, the Sharks might be able to improve on what they invested in him in the first place.

It's not always easy for players in Europe to transition over to North American ice. It means that there will be risk for a lot of teams that are interested in him, so there may not be leverage to justify asking for something like a 2nd round pick. However, something like a 4th round pick for his right might not be too far out of the question for the Sharks, and that could be a meaningful prospect in the future.