A Raw Rant from a San Jose Sharks Fan (Tomas Hertl Traded) 

Apologies for the lag between video & audio; I recorded this in my live-streaming platform, which I typically don't do. Thanks so much to everyone who joined our trade deadline streams and to our wonderful Discord members! Good luck Tommy, we'll miss you bud 💙

Just an awful, awful feeling as a Sharks fan to lose our All-Star player... to our bitter rival!

As a Pens fan, in terns of poor asset management I feel your pain.

VGK fan coming in peace. It is just about universally accepted here that we completely fleeced the Sharks in the trade. If we didn't get the 3rd rounders, or salary wasn't retained it would have been pretty balanced. But all the factors together has to be a hard pill to swallow. Fans wise, we will take care of Hertl.

Sharks save about 7 million on salary cap over 6 years and the trade will look better after a couple of years. Got to make those hard heart wrenching decisions if you want to win the cup.

Yeah i feel for ya guys on this one. I love seeing the raw real side of ya Nick.

As a Vegas fan, I don’t even consider the Sharks as our rivals anymore, I just feel bad for y’all. I genuinely hope they’re competitive again soon. A good Sharks team is good for hockey

Ugh. It's always terrifying, waiting to see which team gets screwed the hardest at the deadline. As a Vancouver fan, I am used to crap leadership, but damn, dude. This is rough.

First time watching the stream, been a die hard fan since the team's creation. You said literally everything I was thinking. You got a new follower here brother

I still watch every game , but my friends who were long time fans don’t anymore . It’s gonna be like 5 years before the sharks are any good again . What I am STILL angry about is Pavelski . Nothing will top that .

Knights fan here, I miss those battles we had those first few years. My best friend is a Sharks fan and we’d always go to the bar for the games, we don’t do that anymore. Despite the intense feelings I’ve had towards the Sharks, I hate to see the current state they’re in but unfortunately it happens. Every team at some point has a low point. The Sharks made the Playoffs like 23 times in their first 26 years of existence, something like that. Very proud franchise, I know they’ll pull through at some point and hopefully we can watch some playoff caliber battles. Totally stoked to get a player of Hertls’ caliber. Every now and then I have to go back and watch the highlights of his 4 goal game vs the Rangers! Couldn’t be happier to have this guy on the team.

The Sharks need to also lower ticket prices. For how they have been playing it’s been crazy how the ticket prices are. I feel they are losing money each game that happens because of how many people are in the stands.

As a buffalo sabres fan I feel your pain brotha

Jack Thompson can be a sneaky good add for SJ. Developed in Syracuse and already an ahl all star

Man i feel ur hurt & its so raw that it helps me as a newby to hockey to understand this particular deal. Its great that you are a Sharks fan thru thick & thin but that ur love of hockey lets u enjoy the sport for what it is; Fantastic!! Enjoy them beers mate & from the UK, good luck & cheers for ur insightful content.

As a Sabres fan I encourage Sharks fans to ride this out. Stay patient and don’t rush the rebuild so that you have a larger window to win a cup later on. Or of course so you don’t end up in the endless hell we are in lol. Many of my fellow Sabres fans want to rush our rebuild just to make the playoffs. Mike Grier is in a tough spot with limited assets. Stay the course!

There's 2 teams that shocked me that they never won a championship. 2010s Sharks and 1990's Flyers. Both teams made it to a finals once each, but fell short. The Joe Thornton Sharks were so strong, but they were tormented by a defensive powerhouse King's team. The Lindros led Flyers had the same trouble struggling against Hall of Fame goalies in the East in Hasek and Brodeur. I think the Sharks teams were more complete because they had better goaltending than Phlly had in the 90's. At least the Sharks have a decent chance at picking 1st or 2nd in the coming draft.

It really sucks when your favorite team is a stinker with no end in sight. One day the Sharks will raise the Stanley Cup, and to all the fair weather fans you can say, "Welcome aboard! Where have you been?"

I'm so sorry Nick. Watching this broke my heart for you and the true Sharks fans out there. I can't even imagine your fury and how upset ypu must be. Please keep strong bro and keep up your passion. These are the lows... highs will come

Sharks fans droppin like flies

As a Coyotes fan here, i feel for you guys in SJ.

If we don’t get celebrini I’m going to riot. All the best to teenage mutant ninja Hertl.

We basically traded Hertl for a bag of chips

reminds me when Owen Nolan got traded to Toronto. sad, but I wish the best for Tomas and now he has a chance to get a cup.

Excited to see Hertl here in Vegas!

we'll get thru it man, these next few year will be pretty bad, but let's look forward to eky, smith, shak, musty, zetts, bordeleau, edstrom, and many more young studs. We'll get thru it 🙏🙏

Man Nick believe me when I say I FEEL ya on this one. I absolutely could not believe the return on this trade. It’s also amplified when you consider who he’s going to. Grier has been so hit and miss but there really is no way to justify this trade. I will say as one thing though. Hertl should have been traded last season. The contract that DW signed him to is a huge factor in why we got so little in return. We just gotta keep the faith that this team will improve and maybe one day we can get back to the glory days!

absolutley heart wrenching to see him go to Vegas, idk why they didnt look to move him in the Offseason for the best price

Reminds me of when Detroit sold Tatar and Nyquist and you just knew it was gonna be rough

i feel for you man, gotta feel terrible i couldnt even imagine

We will take good care of him

Man, I feel for you and Shark fans.

Mike Grier should be investigated. That return is so bad that it has to be collusion. No other explanation.

Best I can say is embrace the tank. Learn to love it and root for the Ls to pile up... It worked for the hawks last year, maybe it's your turn this year. As much as i'd like to see Celebrini on the hawks, him going to SJ would be great for the NHL. I'd love for the 2 top dogs in the west be the Hawks and the Sharks again after long but successful rebuilds.

Read Sheng Peng's article, on the trades, he grades the Hertl trade a B for...reasons. He also grades the other trades, it's worth a read...

Seems like he wanted to go to vegas.

Sorry mate, but I'm not with you regarding this trade. This was the price the Sharks had to pay for signing hertl in the first place, a way too big contract for a player past his prime now 30+ for 6 more years. 6.5 mil in cap space wisely spent can be so much better than hertl, + a first rounder + a guy that's doing good for frölunda . . . I think greer did pretty good cleaning up the mess he inherited🤔🤔

As a life long Sharks fan since 91 this is probably the worst the team has ever looked. Been through some bad seasons but nothing like this one. Seats are empty at every game. Not sure what management is even doing right now 😕

Simply devastating...I feel for you!

This trade doesn’t make a ton of sense.. especially when you factor in that we gave up 2 3rd round picks AND retained 17% of his contract for 6 years!! Why.. ? the only way Grier should’ve traded Hertl is if a team called with an undeniable offer which included no retention and no draft picks going back. This was not that. Hertl is a mentor for the young guys coming up and he’s a great example of a hard working center who doesn’t take short cuts. Granlund, Hoffman, Barabonov are all guys who should’ve been moved at this deadline and who could’ve gotten us 2nd, 3rd and 4th round draft picks or some prospects. After this season , Couture has 3 yrs left on his deal and Vlasic has 2 yrs left on his. Those are essentially all that’s left of the bad contracts for aging players. Which is fine, Sharks still are required to meet the cap floor each season and they won’t be competitive for probably 4 years. I really hope the Sharks win the lotto and get Celebrini but if they do not and pick #2 or #3 expect them to target a RD defenseman, like Levshunov out of MSU. Either way Sharks will be a very young exciting team in 3-4 years and Vegas will be in ruins just way worse off than the Sharks were with all their horrible contacts . Vegas is also currently seeded in the #8 wild card spot and have been struggling tremendously the past 10 games . It would be interesting and also hilarious if they did end up missing the playoffs this year… it’s very much a possibility.

My thought was wow Vegas is just having their way with this league. I didn’t think too much of how this would effect sharks fans that’s heartbreaking

I’m actually happy for this. He needs to play for a champion ship team once and for all.

I love Couture, not only because he grew up in my home town of Guelph but because He's just a great guy and hockey player... But I really still think Hertl was more of a face then Couture. Sad to see him go, especially for that.

As a vegas fan, we have the buffed team. But, they have to work out the kinks, havent been playing the best. Well see what happens when hertl comes back and if stone returns

I remember the Habs getting a #13 pick for Romanov who isn't half as good. Surely Hertl should net you a similar return minimum at the draft.

Seattle fan here--I *want* to make a joke about how you just gave Hertl to one of the teams the Kraken are trying to catch up to in the wild card race (this is copium, dont take it too seriously), but...FUCK, dude, I can't bring myself to. I hope when all's said and done you guys are rewarded for your suffering with a cup-winning *dynasty*, you deserve it.

As a vegas fan this video made my heartbreak for you. I know things will turn around for the sharks in a positive way I just hope it’s soon for you❤

It's sad but I'm hoping this turns out for us. It's going to hurt to see Hertl so frequently against us.

It's not the same sport, but the same style of approach of future success in a rebuild.... My Orioles had a such a 5-year rebuild plan. So, I feel ya! Albeit it was cut a year short due to the big team's major league success. It did suck to suck for a few years. (Hopefully, the MLB-NHL analogy translates) My honest hope, the Sharks get some veterans on this club to get some fans at the stadium. Who knows? They could teach the prospects tremendously.

Hard to stomach today. I feel your value comes from how you leverage that 6M freed from hertl the next few years if you can get cap dumps for contracts or facilitate more trades with that space

I'm so sorry for your loss

This one is hard to stomach for sure. The salary retention and who we traded him to are the worst part. I like Edstrom but damn this sucks!

I feel ya bro. I’m an avs fan but I think if we traded someone like Miko rantanen and two third round picks and got question marks in return. Heads up bro and hopefully that prospect becomes a core player like pavelski or burns or Thornton or marleau

I think I’m gonna root for Pavs and the stars as my new team. Sharks won’t be a 500 team until 2028

Penguins fan here, I can sympathize here… We’re on our way down here to hangout with you SJ fans.. Sharks/Pens Stanley Cup rematch coming 2036

hertl and a 1st rounder is a great trade. i know it doesnt feel like it rn but as a sens fan i have to tell you this is good.

How you feel about losing Hertl is how Blackhawks fans felt about losing Patrick Kane. I feel for you man.

I can't wait for your Sharks to get better and renew our rivalry.

Many of you all are grossly underestimating Edstrom. I like much of his development this year (he’s now better than a 32rd pick) and he will be at least as good as Hertl in at most 3 years. Moreover, Hertl was a bad contract for the Sharks now, and retaining only 17% of his salary is great. I understand the point about defense prospects, though. Yes, they need more defense prospects than forwards, but Edstrom will be good.

I know how it feels but they took care of Quick and Martinez so Hertl will be fine.

Sorry for your loss

As a knights fan I’m happy we got hertl but David edstrom is a really good center prospect… his floor I think is a high level 3 line center, with 2 line center play like William karlsson potential… a very good 2 way forward. Would have preferred to give up this years first round pick instead.

Vegas fan here. ⚔️ Also, I personally believe Vegas is in danger of not even making the playoffs. They’re in more trouble than people seem to think. Hopefully this can help them pull it together.

This trade is going to age beautifully for the Teal.

The 1st we get from Vegas is likely gonna be very late. The quality of player still likely that of a high 2nd round picked player ~ the two 3rd's from SJ will likely be so early in the 3rd they're akin to late 2nd round player in quality. This trade might be a fleece. Hertl will be a beast for them in the playoffs, because he does so many things well. Grier reallllly should of held on to this, made this deal in the summer, asked Hertl to have a list of teams he'd be good with and then start negotiating

I get trading him. I do NOT get giving them to picks to give them your best player.

I’m not a Sharks fan, but there’s no reason the Sharks needed to throw two 3rds into the deal to make it happen. Retaining until 2030 should of at the very least have kiboshed the thirds requirement.

I am a long time fan of the San Jose Sharks! I like Thomas Hertl very much and I am a Vegas Golden Knights fan now!

I was at school so I couldn’t watch the livestream but I can say the Golden Knights might be the most hated team not only in hockey but in sports as a whole now. Getting star players every single year and always winning reminds me of the old New England Patriots dynasty. Now everyone from the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals Sharks team is gone.

You get needed cap space, a young 6'3' 1st round pick center, a2025 1st, . relax. if you get the # 1 pick you could have celebrini, smith, edstrom, and bystedt down the middle for years to come with cap relief plus maybe the penguins 1st this year plus two 2nds this year and thompson just acquired on the back end plus shakir muk coming soon. The future is bright it takes time to clean up a mess, and if you read between the lines hertl publicly said at the allstar break he was going to talk to grier about his future there so he wanted out and got his wish. Relax the future is bright.

Aw man, yeah that's a rough trade. I can't imagine being a Sharks fan right now. I just dislike Vegas because of the Fleury stuff. But man, am I ever hoping they somehow miss the playoffs. I would laugh so hard if Vegas fell out of it. We shall see, though.

This last minute trade at deadline looks like a panic buy by Mike Grier, and I agree that the return for best player on Sharks was dismal and retention of salary for 6 years wrong, or at least that this deal would not have survived an overnight think or reconsideration in a calm and cool hour. Hertl was central to being competitive in next 5 years and selling him off means much more suffering for Sharks fans as they see Vegas win big with Hertl and other stars, including Adin Hill. What Sharks dispose of becomes the gold in other teams. This trade winds back the Sharks development so that they win later rather than sooner if these new prospects and picks turn out in 5 years. Hertl should have been an untouchable Shark for life and never traded.

I cannot blame you in the very least. It is like the Rangers trading Brian Leetch to the Devils or Islanders.

Sucks to see you so gutted. I was surprised to see the trade in all aspect; what they got back, the retention for another 6 years, AND to the KNIGHTS?! Tough one to swallow for sure. Sorry buddy

Kelly MacCrimmon is master negotiator

Wilson was the one destroying our franchise with clown contracts. Grier is now doing the ugly part to clean it up. This trade was necessary for us. we needed to get hertls contract of the books and we did get two assets out of it. It will take a few years but we will get back. We are lucky to be in the bottom of the standings and be able to farm the best prospects. Every team with the most succes are the teams that have been in the bottom before and gotten the best picks

Honestly, we need to get over it. It is a business. We can blame Grier all we want but he inherited a mess that he is fixing on the fly. The decisions made before his arrival is why we are where we are as a franchise. This is not suppose to be a quick fix and we as a fanbase need to stop thinking this is the end all be all. Rebuilds take time and Grier has put this team to be in position to sign FAs and re-sign players on the team that are performing for years to come. Things will get better but it takes time. For the return for Hertl, it would have been more in 2022. He should never been re-signed. Why? The Sharks were trying to cling onto the playoff vibes from 3 years prior but that was a poor decision from management. In 2024, a 30 year old, 8 plus million for the next 6 years and will slowing decline over those 6 years, injury prone… the fact Grier got 2 1st round picks (Edstrom being the 2nd 1st round pick) with only 17 percent retention is a win. With the cap going up, the retention on Hertl won’t matter every year from now to 2030. As a fan, this sucks. Traded to VGK of all places… Hertl had to approve it. His NMC limited the return. Grew up in the Bay Area for a decade and change, saw him grow to be an awesome hockey player and human being and make us like him more than the average player. But this is the sad reality of losing, people will leave. Things change. The timeline did not fit for Hertl. We all need to accept that.

I wonder if this was pushed by Tomas's side wanting to play for a winner. Alternatively, what better way to make sure to finish below Chicago in the standings than to get rid of your scorers...

Where did you get that hat?

0:15 just say it Nick " I am not like that crazy guy Jaws" 🤣.wait what? Salary for SIX years? Ok jokes over holy hell! I feel for ya brother! edit; don't underestimate the value of all those centers. That is what Florida did, hell even Swaggy is listed a C, we basically have 2 centers per line.

Vegas are officially the Golden Pricks

Dude I’m so sorry for you 😂

Everyone was reporting how bad the trade was And that was when the 3rds were all going TO San Jose??? Must have gotten something crazy on camera last trip to Vegas to have that much blackmail material on the GM…. 🤦‍♂️

Pretty hat. I was surprised how much Grier had to give up to move him. And pay part of the contract for the next 6 years. I would not be happy if my team's GM did that.

The ocean is salty due to Shark tears... #RIP

It's easy as a Knights fan to roll into the comments section and sound fake-humble AF , but we will absolutely treat Hertl right. He seems like a really good dude and I know his character was a big consideration by McCrimmon in the trade. I feel bad for what the Sharks fans are going through (even the ones that outright hate the Knights and their fans) but I hope some time down the line the Sharks get an honest to god crack at a Cup and renew the division rivalry with the Knights.

Need more darts at the dartboard. We dont know for sure all those prospects you named are gonna hit

I got a 2024 Hertl all star jersey and the day I received it, he got traded to the knights 😢

Not understanding this rebuild... How do you fill your exemptions up for the next few years? Arizona loaded themselves up with extra picks by taking on contracts or being the middle man... Hertl until 2030. Karlsson until 26-27. That is two trades you wont be making for the next 3 years plus... Crazy asset management. And you gave Vegas 2 3rds!!!! Which will be in the top part of those rounds guaranteed. Feel bad for you guys

If I’m allowed to give one, here’s a perspective from a Knights fan: I’m upset that we’ve continued to fleece teams left and right and I’m sure if the roles were reversed and we gave up someone like Mark Stone or Johnathan Marchessault to the sharks, we’d be just as upset and I’m not denying it. I hate that we’ve taken advantage of multiple things via the LTIR, the trade deadline, etc and I hate that we’ve brought this look upon ourselves. I can’t speak for every knights fan but Nick, know that I, myself, do not agree with this trade whatsoever, Hertl has been amazing for you guys and as you said he’s been the face of your franchise for almost half a decade and I hate that the two ownerships allowed this to happen. Yes, I understand that trades happen and this kind of stuff is normal in the sports world but this might go down as one of the biggest fleeces in NHL history. Maybe even sports history. Knights fans, including myself are having very mixed emotions because yes, we’re signing all of these players to deals that could make a difference for us in the long run and I hate that the NHL is doing nothing about it but at the same time, you’ve got solid guys on the LTIR that caused this to happen in the first place. I guess it’s one thing to get away with a trade but it’s a completely different thing to fleece your biggest rival. For the record, I’m very new to the world of hockey, only been watching for about 6-8 months to a year and been a fan of the knights since the start of the season and before anyone comes at me for being a bandwagon, I was so out of touch with hockey that I had no idea the knights won the cup. Once again, I hate that this happened, I don’t agree with the majority of what we’ve done leading up to the trade deadline.

Just remember hertls bad knees and you'll feel better about the deal

As a Vegas fan , I absolutely adore Hertl. I know how this feels for you though. I cried when Fleury was traded.

Now you know how VGK fans felt when they traded Fleury and kept Lehner.

Every season, I hope for a sharks turn around. Im a canes fan and I hate seeing other non-traditional markets sruggle. "Real" NHL fans dog us regardless of our performance simply because of our location. The moves the sharks have made in recent years have always left a positve affect on me(obviously because we got burns). But seriously, I thought they were making big moves to turn this team around. The Hertl trade is BEYOND me. I am offically confused. in recent seasons, the other trades made some sense due to age and the iminate rebuild. But I thought hertl was a shark. Like THE shark..you know? Idk whats going on anymore.

I personally like the trade... Like look it sucks, but the Cap is going up. Retention slots don't mean/won't mean much as we move forward. What was Tomas going to do? Toil away another few years and get a ceremony? We have to move forward in some way and each year you hold on he depriciates. It hurts, but you add another center prospect and another first into a good pool, that's going to get better. Within 3 Years we'll have about 70 Million-90 Million in Cap Space and we'll have 2 Mill in dead money, what would the ret slots do anyways in a few years? Get an extra 4th? And when we're compeittive there is NO NEED for em anyways. I liked all the trades, sans the Kahkonen one, but I had a feeling he was leaving in the summer cause he's 27.

Yah that was a wack trade for the ages. Sorry Sharks fans, we were all scratching our heads when that went down.

I'm of two minds on this. As a longtime Vegas resident and VGK fan since the beginning, i want their success. So, guess what, i'm now a San Jose resident as of last Nov. And new Sharks fan. Hertl leaving hurts me, too. One positive in all this is that i won't be hated anymore as part of the VGK fan base. Nobody hates the Sharks.

pain.

By all rights the league Should nix this trade just for the 6 year retaintion.

Golden knights are the most hated Fanbase in sports