As the excitement from the draft wears off and free agency carries on, concern is starting to creep into the minds of Sharks fans. The draft was a big success for the organization, however free agency is starting to erode the success and bring cause for anxiety.
Today, it was announced the newest addition to the San Jose Sharks’ precarious defensive core is left-handed defenseman, Libor Hajek. Signing Hajek to a one-year, two-way, contract is incredibly puzzling. This contract is even more confusing considering the awful trade made for Darnell Nurse the other day, retaining 100% of his $9.25 million annual average salary.
Hajek never had much of an NHL career, with his last game being December 12, 2022 with the New York Rangers. The Rangers are infamously not fantastic at developing players, but this was not the case for Hajek. He simply could not play up to par with the rest of the league, and has spent the past three seasons in his home of Czechia.
However, Hajek isn’t even great in the Czech league. In 44 games played this season with HC Dynamo Pardubice, he only notched 13 points (6G, 7A). Hajek had more or less faded into obscurity in 2022 when he lost his spot on the Rangers, and has not done much to prove his worth to an NHL team since. At 28-years-old, it’s unbelievably perplexing why Sharks General Manager, Mike Grier, would bother bringing him back to North America when at no point in his career could he keep up.
One can only hope Grier has a trick up his sleeve, as he tends to hold his cards close to himself. However, if the purpose of obtaining Hajek and Nurse aren’t for the sake of a potential trade package, a lot of questions regarding Grier’s business savvy begin to be asked.
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