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DONE DEAL: Nashville officially confirms the signing of a Veteran forward.
The San Jose Sharks traded their 2020 first-round draft pick, Ozzy Wiesblatt, to the Nashville Predators on Sunday for forward Egor Afanasyev. Afanasyev, 23, led the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals with 54 points, including 27 goals, in 56 regular-season games this past year and nine points in 15 playoff games. He has one goal in 19 career NHL games, most recently playing in two games with the Predators in February.
Wiesblatt is the fourth player the Sharks have taken in the first round to be traded by general manager Mike Grier in the last 18 months. A pending restricted free agent, the Russian-born Afanasyev, listed at 6-foot-4 and 209 pounds, was a second-round draft pick by the Predators in 2019 and just finished his third season of North American professional hockey. He has 113 points in 187 career regular-season games in the AHL. Wiesblatt, 22, spent most of the last two seasons with the Barracuda and had just 11 points in 34 AHL games. Having perhaps fallen down the organizational depth chart, and with the Barracuda out of the playoff picture, Wiesblatt was loaned to Milwaukee in March to gain postseason experience.
While with Milwaukee, Wiesblatt had six points in 16 regular-season games and nine points in 15 playoff games. He has one year left on his entry-level contract and has not yet played an NHL game. “He plays a very high-energy, intense game but didn’t get much playing time,” one NHL scout said of Wiesblatt’s time with the Barracuda. “He’s aggressive in his approach.” Trading a first-round draft pick is not new territory for the Sharks.
Timo Meier, drafted ninth overall in 2015, was traded to the New Jersey Devils in Feb. 2023, and Tomas Hertl, taken 17th overall in 2012, was shipped to the Vegas Golden Knights this past March. Both moves cleared salary cap space and brought draft picks and prospects to San Jose. Defenseman Ryan Merkley, taken 21st overall in 2018 and unsatisfied with his role, was traded to the Colorado Avalanche, along with Matt Nieto, in January 2023. Wiesblatt was selected 31st overall by the Sharks in 2020, and how San Jose drafted the forward made headlines.
As he made the selection, Doug Wilson Jr., the Sharks’ former scouting director, said Wiesblatt’s name and used sign language for his first name. Wiesblatt’s mother, Kim White, has been deaf since birth and has always used sign language to communicate with her children – four boys and a daughter. “That means a ton, especially to my mom and the deaf community in general,” Wiesblatt said that night on Oct. 6, 2020. “It’s just a very nice gesture, and my mom will never forget that.” The Sharks acquired the first-round pick they used on Wiesblatt from the Tampa Bay Lightning in Feb. 2020. Going the other way was forward Barclay Goodrow, who won two Stanley Cups with the Lightning before he was traded to the New York Rangers in July 2021.
Goodrow then signed a six-year, $21.85 million deal with the Rangers. With three years left on the deal, the Rangers placed him on waivers last Tuesday. The Sharks claimed him the next day.
