Timo Time ends in San Jose, as Sharks reportedly ship Meier to New Jersey

In the biggest trade of Mike Grier’s brief tenure as San Jose’s general manager, the Sharks sent winger Timo Meier and defenseman Scott Harrington to New Jersey for a mix of draft picks, including the Devils’ 2023 first-round selection, NHL players and prospects.

Besides New Jersey’s first-round draft pick this year, the Sharks acquired a conditional 2024 first-round selection, defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Nikita Okhotiuk, and forwards Fabian Zetterlund and Andreas Johnsson.

The Devils also received minor league players Timur Ibragimov, Santeri Hatakka, and goaltender Zach Emond. San Jose will retain 50 percent of Meier’s remaining contract through the 2022-23 season. Meier’s cap hit for this season is $6 million, although he is making $10 million in actual salary.

The Sharks entered Monday with a record of 18-30-12 — fourth-worst in the 32-team NHL.

Without question, Grier feels the trade will make the Sharks stronger in the long run.

“I think this speeds up the process,” Grier said. “There were some scenarios out there I could have just taken, gotten all (draft) picks back and things like that. But we think that the players we got back are moving far along enough on the development path that they’ll be able to help us soon.

“Then obviously the picks, along with our own picks, it’s something where I think this really helps kind of speed things up a bit.”

The Sharks also received New Jersey’s seventh-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft and parted with the 2024 fifth-round selection they acquired from Colorado in last year’s trade involving Andrew Cogliano.

Meier, 26, was the NHL’s most sought-after player prior to the league’s trade deadline this Friday. Before sitting out the last three games with what was described by the team as an upper-body injury, Meier, a pending restricted free agent, had 31 goals and 21 assists in 57 games.

Even with Meier, though, the Sharks entered Sunday 29th out of 32 teams in the NHL standings with an 18-30-12 record.

Grier said the Sharks were not ready to make the type of financial commitment and dedicate the kind of salary cap space needed to re-sign Meier, whose next contract could be worth well north of $65 million over eight years — which would have made him San Jose’s highest-paid player.

But getting the haul he did from the Devils, Grier feels the Sharks can become a more competitive team sooner rather than later.

“I think we’re going to flip this around more quickly than some people might expect after this trade,” Grier said.

Meier is making $10 million in salary this season, as he is in the last year of a four-year, $24 million deal he signed in July 2019. He is due a qualifying offer of $10 million if he and the team he is with cannot reach an agreement on a long-term contract before the start of free agency this summer.

Meier has not yet agreed to a contract extension with the Devils.

The 6-foot-1 and 220-pound Meier was drafted ninth overall by the Sharks in 2015. Since he turned pro prior to the 2016-2017 season, Meier is the Sharks’ fourth-leading point-getter, with 154 goals and 316 points in 451 games. Only Logan Couture scored more goals (162) in that time.

Although the Sharks have missed the playoffs each of the last three seasons, Meier showed at a young age that he could be an impactful postseason performer. He has 20 points in 35 career postseason games, with 15 points in 20 games in 2019 when the Sharks advanced to the Western Conference final.

“He is the prototype of modern-day power forward and it’s very tough to find players like that,” Couture said Saturday. “A 30-goal scorer, so obviously he’s a tremendous player. Organizations have decisions to make and they make them, and as players, you live with what’s done and our job is to show up and play hockey and really that’s all we control in this room.”

Meier had not played in the previous three Sharks games as he recovered from what was described as an upper-body injury.

Asked Saturday if he thinks he’s already played his last game for the Sharks, which would have been Feb. 18 against Buffalo, Meier said, “I don’t really think like that. If it happens, it happens, but my full concentration right now is getting healthy.

“I don’t really know too much right now.”

The Devils reportedly wanted an extension done with Meier, or at least be close to one, before they part with the type of assets necessary to complete a deal with San Jose. But that stance reportedly softened this weekend, paving the way for this deal to get done now.

The conditions on the two draft picks the Sharks are receiving are extensive.

If the 2023 first-round draft pick the Sharks are receiving from the Devils ends up as a top-two selection, New Jersey will instead transfer its own 2024 first-round pick to San Jose.

For that to happen, though, the Devils would have to slide out of a playoff spot and finish the season as one of the NHL’s 12 worst teams. Entering Monday, New Jersey had the third-best record in the NHL at 39-15-5.

For the 2024 first-round pick, should New Jersey reach the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals — and Meier plays in at least 50% of the Devils’ playoff games in 2023 — or the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals, New Jersey will transfer its own first-round pick (top 10 protected) in 2024 NHL Draft to San Jose.

If neither occurs, San Jose will receive New Jersey’s 2024 second-round selection.

If New Jersey’s first-round pick in 2024 NHL Draft is a top 10 selection, the Devils will have the option to instead transfer its own first-round pick in 2025 NHL Draft to San Jose. Should New Jersey transfer its first-round pick in 2024 NHL Draft per the original condition, New Jersey will instead transfer its own first-round pick in 2025 NHL Draft should they reach the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals.