San Jose Sharks and their star winger haven't had any contract discussions

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Joshua Deeds
August 31, 2022 (10:37)

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The San Jose Sharks are in a peculiar situation with their star winger Timo Meier. Meier was named the Sharks player of the year in 2019-2020, but since free agency has begun, Meier hasn't focused on getting it done just yet.

«For sure, I love it here. It's like my second home,» Hertl said in his May 2021 exit interview, when asked if he wanted to re-sign with the Sharks. «I started playing hockey here. I got 500 games here. San Jose means to me everything. I got a lot of friends around and all this stuff.»

It sounds like Meier is going to bide his time in the off-season, who has since made an effort to get to know the Sharks newly hired GM, Mike Grier.

Since then, he has been working on getting ready this off-season for this year and will continue to do so.

"This conversation hasn't come up and there haven't been any negotiations or anything," Meier said. "So my focus is in the right now and just getting ready for the season and play the best season I can have. I want to help the team have success, so that's my No. 1 motivation."

Meier had a career year in 2021-2022, putting up 35 goals and 41 assists, for 76 points in 77 games, almost a point-per-game pace.

During the off-season, the Sharks brought in a slew of new players, including Kaapo Kahkonen, Nico Sturm, Oskar Lindblom, Markus Nutivaara, Steven Lorentz, and Luke Kunin.

With these acquisitions, Grier and Meier believe that the team can make a step forward into the playoffs soon if players give it their all during the season.

In the meantime, Meier is looking forward to meeting all the new players and feels as if the Sharks have built a good squad, despite losing Brent Burns.

"There has been big changes and I haven't met these people yet, so I'm looking forward to meeting them and get going and meet the new players that we acquired," Meier said. "So I think it's definitely a spark of new energy that comes into the organization and we hope to have success and get back into to the playoffs."