Potentially needing to clear a roster spot for some soon-to-be healthy players, the San Jose Sharks on Sunday placed sporadically used veteran defenseman Nick Leddy on waivers.
Leddy, 34, is one of seven defensemen on San Jose’s active roster. But the Sharks, who are already carrying the maximum 23 players, were soon going to be facing a roster crunch with defensemen Vincent Desharnais and Shakir Mukhamadullin both nearing a return from their respective upper-body injuries.
Desharnais has been on injured reserve since Dec. 1, and Mukhamadullin was placed on IR on Jan. 6. Teams have until Monday morning to claim Leddy before he can be assigned by the Sharks to the Barracuda of the AHL.
Desharnais and Mukhamadullin both practiced with the Sharks on Sunday in South Florida, and Desharnais could be in the Sharks’ lineup for their road game against the Florida Panthers on Monday.
Due to an early-season injury and numerous healthy scratches, Leddy, who the Sharks claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Blues in July, has played in just 19 of San Jose’s 47 games so far this season. In the Sharks’ 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, Leddy had an assist in 17:27 of ice time.
Leddy is in the final year of a four-year, $16 million contract he signed with the Blues in July 2022. He is, per PuckPedia, making $3 million in salary this season.
Leddy was in the lineup for the Sharks’ first seven games of the season before he sustained an upper-body injury in the first period of the team’s game against the New York Rangers on Oct. 23.
Leddy missed the next 11 games, and after his return on Nov. 15 in Seattle, dressed in only 11 more games for San Jose due to inconsistent play and a logjam on the back end, with nine defensemen on the roster at times.
Other defensemen on the Sharks roster right now are Sam Dickinson, Mario Ferraro, Vincent Iorio, John Klingberg, Timothy Liljegren, and Dmitry Orlov.
Winger Pavol Regenda, recalled from the Barracuda on Dec. 30, would also require waivers if the Sharks wanted to return him to the AHL, but it’s questionable whether he would clear. In 10 NHL games this season, Regenda has seven goals and an assist.
Leddy, now in his 16th NHL season, was a first-round draft choice by the Minnesota Wild in 2009, was traded to Chicago the following year, and played four seasons with the Blackhawks from 2010 to 2014, winning a Stanley Cup with the team in 2013. In Oct. 2014, Leddy was traded to the New York Islanders, where he spent seven seasons before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings in 2021. He was traded to the Blues eight months later.
Leddy, who has played in 1,061 games in his NHL career, was placed on waivers by the Blues on July 2 and claimed by the Sharks the next day.
After Monday, the Sharks finish their road trip on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.