SAN JOSE – Forward Timo Meier is adjusting to the challenges of playing through a contract year as some uncertainty surrounds his future with the Sharks organization.
Meier is in the final year of a four-year, $24 million contract he signed with the Sharks in 2019 and he is slated to become a restricted free agent next summer. His next contract will almost certainly be longer and richer, as his present deal carries an average annual value of $6 million.
Meier said Friday that there’s been “nothing too crazy” in terms of progress on a new deal with the Sharks. Meier’s agent, former Sharks forward Claude Lemeiux, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“It’s obviously there, but I think if you want to be a good player in this league, you’ve got to be able to handle situations like that,” Meier said of playing through a contract year. “Definitely it’s on your mind, it’s going to take a little bit of energy out of you, but you can’t let it influence you too much.
“You go to work and then you’ve got to be the best player you can be. But yeah, it’s just part of the deal.”
With the Sharks presently out of a playoff spot and owners of a 7-12-3 record before Friday’s game with the Los Angeles Kings, speculation has also grown that Meier, 26, might become a prime target for other teams once the March 3 trade deadline nears.
“The focus right now for me is to play hard, play my best hockey,” Meier said. “Obviously, we’re not winning a lot of hockey games. I’m trying to become better for the team and make sure we win.”
Meier is the Sharks’ leader with 177 points over the last three-plus years since he signed his current contract. This season, after not scoring in his first nine games, Meier had 12 goals in his last 13 games before Friday, as he was tied for the league lead with 11 goals in November.
Meier said he has received advice from others who have gone through similar situations contract-wise.
“You get some advice, but you want to be yourself,” Meier said. “There’s going to be thoughts about it, and sometimes you have to get those thoughts and you’ve got to think about it. But for me during the season now, the most important thing is to focus on hockey, not thinking about too much or letting it influence your game.”
Asked if the uncertainty about his next contract weighed on him at the start of the season when the puck wasn’t going into the net for him, Meier said “not really. I don’t think I was playing terribly. Sometimes it just doesn’t go in.
“Call it bad luck or just the bounces aren’t going your way, but then you’ve just got to keep going. Can’t get too frustrated and you’ve got to help the team in whatever way you can, and it’s got to be in different ways.”
STURM TALKS HIT: Nico Sturm isn’t upset with Ryan Carpenter after a hit by the New York Rangers forward landed the Sharks winger on injured reserve last weekend.
Last Saturday, Sturm was carrying the puck inside the Sharks’ zone in the first period when he was hit by Carpenter and went face-first into the glass. Sturm clutched his helmet as he went down on the ice, then skated off and left for the Sharks’ dressing room.
Sturm, who shoots left-handed, said Friday that the way he had to twist his body to retrieve the puck along the right-side boards made it such that any contact from the side was going to leave him in a tough position.
“If the hit comes east to west, there’s not really a way to protect yourself,” Sturm said. “Whereas if I was on the other side, I don’t need to kind of reach all the way over and I can just pick up the puck, so I’m not naturally having my back turned.
“I don’t even think it was a malicious hit or anything. It’s tough to protect yourself in that situation.”
Sturm said Carpenter, who was assessed a two-minute minor for boarding, reached out to him to ask if was OK.
Sturm, who is eligible to come off IR in time for Sunday’s game with Vancouver, took part in Friday’s morning skate. He said he felt better than he did Monday when he was a late scratch from that night’s game against the Ottawa Senators.
“Monday, I thought I was fine, and then two days later, you wake up and you’re like, oh, some something’s not right,” Sturm said. “So we’ll see. We’ve got another practice (Saturday). Hopefully, I can get a really good sweat in and feel like I’m going in the right direction.”
