5 players the San Jose Sharks could trade before the deadline

The San Jose Sharks are now a certified seller, and these five players could be gone between now and the trade deadline.

Things have not gone as planned for the San Jose Sharks this season, as they have the fourth-lowest point total in the Western Conference and they are one of only four teams in the league with less than 50 points entering Friday.

San Jose has already been without No. 1 center Logan Couture (fractured left ankle) since early this month, and he is not expected to be back until somewhere around the Feb. 24 trade deadline. Then on Wednesday night against Vancouver, Tomas Hertl, whose 36 points are tied for second-most on the team (with Couture as it were), went down with a left knee injury.

On Thursday, it was confirmed Hertl suffered a torn ACL and MCL. He will miss the rest of the season.

The Sharks already fired head coach Peter DeBoer earlier in the season, but general manager Doug Wilson got what is often a dreaded vote of confidence last week. But with the moves that have been made, trades and some long-term contracts, a change in general manager wouldn’t fix anything right now.

San Jose should now be all the way in sell-mode, as much as they can be with limited maneuverability among their best players and a general lack of other assets. That being said, these five players could be gone before the trade deadline.

5. C/W Melker Karlsson

As a looming unrestricted free agent, Melker Karlsson stands out as a possible trade chip for the Sharks. But he’s also having a pretty miserable season, with seven points and a minus-10 in 48 games, and he’s not a prolific scorer.

Albeit in limited opportunities as a down line forward, Karlsson wins more faceoffs than he loses (55 percent this season) and positively impacts offensive zone starts (53.2 percent this year). There is some value to be trumpeted and extracted here for San Jose, even if it’s only a mid-tier draft pick from a contending team that is looking for forward depth.